Letters and News — From Mrs. Mounira Najm Rizk

We have received from our emigrant compatriot Mrs. Mounira Najm Rizk a letter in which she says: When the June number of The Woman's Voice reached me, and with it the supplement — that is, the collection of speeches delivered at the celebration which your illustrious League held in honor of Mrs. Julia Dimashqiyah, upon the award to her of the gilded medal for her services from the Lebanese government — I seized it as an opportunity to acquaint at least a number of American women with the intelligence of the Arab woman, and to show that she is not the idle creature they believe her to be. And in order to pay off part of the debt I owe to Mrs. Julia Dimashqiyah, I held a celebration in her honor here and made her the subject of one of our meetings. You will find with this letter the speech that was delivered on that occasion.

Here follows a translation of that speech, with our thanks to Mrs. Rizk for her zeal, her devotion, and her activity:

The subject which will remain the theme of our inquiry for years to come is this: are we truly contributing to the propagation of world peace? And to that end, do we concern ourselves with improving our relations with Europe, with Asia, and with the countries neighboring us?

The first step toward securing peace and good relations is to reach an understanding with individuals and groups in the other countries of the world, and to try to study and learn the chief differences that distinguish us from one another, examining them in a friendly atmosphere.

What concerns us most at the present time is to ease and secure commercial relations between ourselves and all countries; we are therefore doing our utmost to study this subject in the light of scientific facts, and that requires a complete understanding of the nature of the peoples with whom we shall exchange trade and who will be in constant contact with us.

As a women's club, it is our duty to become acquainted with the women's clubs of the world and with what their members are doing; and through complete understanding between us and them we can unite and realize our beautiful dream — namely, the spreading of justice and peace. And if we support our government in re-establishing its economy, we shall then feel that we have truly contributed to restoring peace to the world.

Women's institutions from one end of the world to the other have been striving, ever since the First World War, to find a solution that would put an end to all wars. To this end the international women's congress was held last year in France, and this year in New York. I once mentioned to you that this same congress was held in Istanbul in 1935, when it gathered forty-five women delegates, and the conferees strove then for the very aim we pursue today — complete understanding among the women of the entire world — for this road alone secures the work for a lasting peace.

The lady we honor today was at that congress the delegate of Lebanon — my birthplace — and she won the sympathy and respect of most of the delegates when she asked their help in lifting the yoke of colonialism and proclaiming independence in her country.

It happened at that time that the Turkish government gave a banquet in one of its magnificent palaces on the Bosphorus, and the president of the congress asked Mrs. Dimashqiyah — without any advance notice — to thank the Turkish government and the Turkish people for their contribution to the congress's success and their hospitality toward the conferees. On the following day Mrs. Julia Dimashqiyah's speech appeared on the front page of the local newspapers. The congress committee then asked Mrs. Dimashqiyah to become a member of the permanent bureau — and this, upon my life, is an honor every member longs to obtain — but Mrs. Dimashqiyah's health, together with the traveling, prevented her from granting their request.

This lady was in the front rank of those who founded the Red Cross branch in Lebanon. She was the proprietor and editor-in-chief of the largest women's magazine, and she is one of the founders of the Lebanese Arab Women's Federation.

It gives me pleasure to inform you that on the fifteenth of May, 1947, the Lebanese government awarded this excellent lady the gilded medal, in recognition of her efforts and her signal services in the cause of the renaissance of woman in her country.

The government dispatched a high personage to act on its behalf in pinning the medal upon Mrs. Julia Dimashqiyah's breast in her own home, for she has been bedridden these two years. The Lebanese Arab Women's Federation invited the friends of the honored lady, and many speeches were delivered in an atmosphere over which reigned gladness and pure affection.

I am proud of her two children, in whom she planted her good seed, and they have grown into the finest of trees. As for me, I owe all that is good in me to this noble lady, for I was granted the honor of living in her house for eleven years, and she was to me the best of teachers and guides.