Miscellaneous News

On the thirteenth of January the publicity and publication work of the National Revival Committee at the American University began with its series of social lectures.

Dr. Yusuf Hitti, the deputy, was the first to open this useful series, with a lecture entitled: How to Revive the Country's Health.

The lecture hall in "West Hall" was packed with a conscious, cultured public.

◆ We have learned that Dr. Shawqi al-Atasi, one of the physicians of the Surgical Hospital in Damascus, has left his post as a physician at the hospital to enroll in the ranks of the mujahidin for the defense of Palestine. He has registered his name at the training center at Qatana. Thus does Arab youth forsake the life of ease, to work in the cause of the great question. God bless the noble Arab youth.

◆ Literary circles in this country received with pleasure and satisfaction the news that Sheikh Fayez Makarem has taken over the Directorate of Publicity and Publications in the Lebanese Republic. Sheikh Fayez is among the finest young men of this conscious country, and literary circles hope for good and well-being at his hands for literary and social activity. We carry the congratulations of "The Woman's Voice" to this new, eager force in the Lebanese Republic.

◆ The American University of Beirut has received word from the president of the Board of Trustees in New York that the Board has elected Dr. Stephen Penrose as successor to Dr. Bayard Dodge, whose presidency ends next summer.

The new president holds a doctorate in philosophy. He formerly joined the American University of Beirut as a professor of natural sciences, and he has also occupied several posts in the American government. The new president is expected to take up his office next summer, upon Dr. Dodge's retirement.

◆ On the occasion of its entry into its third year, the Egyptian magazine "al-Kitab," published by Dar al-Ma'arif, has issued a special number on "Beauty" — a number in which everything bespeaks refined taste and elegance. The number is rich in colored plates and in various articles on matters of beauty. From it "The Woman's Voice" has taken the article "The Most Famous Beauties" by Dr. Mohammad Mandur.

◆ We were visited at the offices of this magazine by the valiant Miss Georgette Habib Karkar, president of the Arab Girls' Club in Haifa and one of the workers in the child welfare office in al-Faluja, in the district of Gaza.

She spoke to us of the mighty services our brethren in Palestine are rendering in support of the cause of right and justice.

May God multiply the likes of Miss Georgette Karkar, and grant them success in the service of our dear country.

◆ The Lebanese Arab Women's Federation and the Permanent Palestine Bureau in Beirut have accepted the proposal of the estimable, valiant Mrs. Zahia Salman, president of the Child Welfare Committee, that the fifth of every month be proclaimed "Palestine Day," on which lectures and talks are to be given calling upon citizens, women and men alike, to economize in their living on that day and to donate what they save to the donation fund of the Permanent Palestine Bureau.

The Women's Federation likewise adopted Mrs. Salman's proposal that the tenth of every month be set aside for the collection of donations. It has accordingly created fifty donation boxes, distributed among the various associations of the Federation. We have received the splendid results yielded by the donations in the Musaytbeh box, carried around by the estimable ladies at work in the women's field: Fatima Abd al-Rahman Gharib, Munia Khair al-Din al-Fakhouri, Aliya Kamel al-Saidi, Widad al-Halnawi; and the gracious Misses: Haifa Jabr, Najah Nasser, Aida Rizk.

In coming issues of "The Woman's Voice" we shall publish whatever news reaches us of this blessed, practical movement, for whose creation the first credit belongs to Mrs. Zahia Salman.

◆ We mentioned in a past issue that the woman of letters Mrs. Salma al-Haffar won the first prize in the competition held by "The Woman's Voice" for an essay on the subject "Childhood Memories."

We have now received word from Mrs. Salma that she has donated the amount of this prize — twenty-five Lebanese lira — to the "Orphan Girls' Home" in Tripoli, the charitable institution whose management is supervised by the great benefactress Mrs. Iqbal Izz al-Din Zouq.

◆ The Lebanese Child-Welfare Society is giving a charity tea at the Military Club (the Officers' Club), under the patronage of Her Ladyship the wife of His Excellency the Prime Minister Riad Bey el-Solh, at three o'clock in the afternoon of Tuesday, January 31, 1948. The party will include a varied program of dancing, singing, and music, presented by the students of the American College for Girls and the students of the Khadija al-Kubra School together with the children of the child-welfare homes. Miss Marie Sabri will be the speaker of the occasion.

As for the proceeds, they will be spent on the child-welfare homes which the society runs.

We shall give a description of this party in our next issue, God willing.

◆ The Women's Union in Jerusalem, in association with a number of the city's societies, has formed women's first-aid squads and prepared first-aid stations, supplied with beds and every necessity, in all quarters of the city. A number of ladies and others have donated to these stations what they require.

◆ The Orthodox Young Women's Committee in Acre performed the play "The Martyred Woman," produced and directed by Mrs. Asma Tubi. At the performance the Misses Fathiya Qaddoura and Samiha Jarrah recited two stirring poems. Of the play's proceeds, the committee gave one third to the Arab National Treasury — a step that was received with appreciation. Moreover, the first-aid squad formed by the committee has completed its lessons and has prepared two first-aid stations, one at its own club and the second at the Usama ibn Yazid Club.

◆ On the occasion of the glorious feast of Christmas, the society of the Holy Cross Institute in Bethlehem presented two plays, which were attended by a large gathering of the city's ladies and notables. The institute also gave warm clothing to thirty-five orphan girls...