The Government's Duty Toward the Child

The neglect of the child in our country — the neglect of his health, his food, his clothing, his upbringing, and his amusement — all these forms of neglect lead only to an increase in the rate of child mortality, to poorer health among those of them who survive, to their ignorance, and to their deprivation of upbringing, health, and vigor.

These forms of neglect came to light and stood out clearly after woman's awakening and her sense of duty. I single out woman because she alone performs the most sacred duty in this life: the duty of pregnancy, nursing, and raising the child.

Woman's awareness of these neglects was what stirred the zeal of certain cultivated ladies and moved them to action. Thus we saw in Tripoli a select group of cultivated women, headed by Mrs. Aliyya Zouk Shawqi, begin to aid the child through an association to which they gave the name "Child Welfare."

This association began its work ten years ago by spreading propaganda for its principles, holding functions, and preparing the ground for work. Last year it founded a nursery school for children and made it a model school: it brought in specialist teachers and equipped the school with many modern innovations that bring joy and merriment to children's hearts.

The school began last year with sixty children, and today it holds nearly a hundred.

This school has proved a model in its form, its kind, and its equipment; but in our opinion it has not been entirely a model with respect to the highest aim for which the association was founded — namely, the care of the child who has found no care in his own home and cannot obtain it outside the home because of his parents' poverty. The association was obliged to charge tuition from a large portion of its pupils, which weakened it materially, and it admitted a number of children free of charge.

Yet we are working constantly to increase the number of these, so that in time we may place the whole school in the service of deprived children. We therefore call upon all the ladies of Tripoli to extend help to this association of ours, whether by their labors or their money, so that we may attain our aim and fulfill our duty toward the children of our homeland.

The Lebanese woman, whether in Beirut or Tripoli or elsewhere, is working hand in hand to care for the child and to raise his standard. We follow the work of the Children's Welfare Society in Beirut, headed by Mrs. Zahia Salman, supporting it and profiting from its activity and its experience. But we must admit and make clear that our work for the child is a model work, by which we proclaim that woman has begun to feel, to demand, and to criticize, and to offer an example of what ought to exist for all the children of Lebanon, in every quarter of every city or village. Such a work cannot be accomplished by associations, donations, and charities alone. It is a sacred and necessary work that must not be delayed; indeed, it must take precedence over the care of Lebanon's trees, its roads, and its sewers! Yes, caring for the child is caring for the living Lebanon; it is caring for ourselves, for our future, for our dignity, and for our place among the peoples. Have I not the right, then, on this Children's Day, to reproach the government for its neglect of the child in its development program? Twenty-four million lira are to be spent in the year 1947 — in the history of Lebanon — and in them the child has no part... nor even a mention? So in the name of the neglected Lebanese child, and in the name of his suffering mother, I ask all women to help strengthen these associations, to assist them in caring for the child, and to fortify them in demanding the child's rights, his care, and the raising of his standard.