Society News

The renewal of the presidency for His Excellency Sheikh Beshara El-Khouri was the most prominent event of the past month. In a memorable historic session held by the Lebanese Chamber of Deputies, the Chamber unanimously elected Sheikh Beshara El-Khouri President of the Lebanese Republic for a new term of six years.

A wave of joy and gladness swept the country on this happy occasion, on which the word of the whole nation was agreed in support of the President who carried the country to its independence and its glory. The Lebanese people are proud to see at the head of the Lebanese state such a great, devoted, self-sacrificing personality, and this people will not forget that Sheikh Beshara El-Khouri was the greatest of strugglers in the cause of the people's elevation, the people's dignity, and the people's good. "The Woman's Voice," and at its head the Lebanese Women's League and the editorial family within it, congratulates the country on the renewal of the presidency for His Excellency, hoping that Lebanon in his term will remain sovereign, honorable, and independent.

● We noted in last June's issue the inauguration of the Lebanese Red Cross dispensary at Halba, Akkar. After the publication of that item, this letter reached us from Mrs. Awatef, wife of Bashir Othman Merheb, describing the arrival of Mrs. Faiza, wife of His Excellency the Prime Minister Riad al-Solh, with a company of the ladies of the Lebanese Red Cross.

In the village of Enfeh in the Koura, the procession was met by a delegation of the ladies of Akkar, whence the procession continued on its way to Halba in a column of automobiles numbering more than thirty.

At Halba the ladies of Akkar, the municipality of Halba, and the schoolchildren gave it a splendid reception.

The Red Cross delegation inspected the dispensary, and Mrs. Faiza al-Solh donated the sum of 500 Lebanese lira in the name of the Lebanese Red Cross.

The delegate of the Akkar branch delivered an address welcoming the Red Cross committee, in which she pointed to Akkar's need for such a dispensary, and for other dispensaries that assist the humane medical mission. The speaker paid tribute to the good offices of the First Lady, the wife of His Excellency, Mrs. Laure Khoury, and praised the Marquise de Freige, the president general, and Mrs. Faiza al-Solh, the vice president.

In Tripoli the delegation took luncheon at the table of the wife of Bashir Merheb, and at table Dr. May Saadeh delivered a speech on woman and her condition, paying tribute to the efforts of the hostess in raising the standard of woman.

● At the beginning of this year, a fine group of the students of the American School in Tripoli founded a social club under the presidency and patronage of the writer Miss Munira Husni, one of the teachers at this school.

The club's basic aim is to teach poor children by giving them lessons after classes are dismissed. Throughout the school year they have taught forty poor boys and girls, none of them over ten years of age.

They opened a small shop in the school where they sell sweets, and reaped fair profits, which helped them fulfill their desire to provide clothing.

They lately found that the club's treasury permits the assisting of two students at the school, so they decided to sponsor two students at the club's expense. They hope their treasury will permit the assisting of a greater number in the future.

On the eighth of June the club held a charming party for its pupils on the occasion of the end of the school year, and the public could see the great care that the student members of the club direct toward these children; smiles of contentment and joy were drawn upon their lips.

● From the secretary of the Women's Charitable Society of Tripoli, the honorable Mrs. Fatima Munla Ghali, we received the following word:

The calamity of dear Palestine has been a touchstone of souls and a test of the citizen. No sooner did the stream of refugees from among our Palestinian brethren begin than the women's charitable societies of Tripoli, of all its communities, called one another to a meeting held at the home of Mrs. Iqbal Izz al-Din Zouq, president of the Women's Charitable Society and member of the Palestine Committee in the North, at which it was decided to form joint committees from the societies named — the Ladies' Child Welfare Society, the Myrrh-Bearers, the Young Muslim Women, the Maronite Ladies, the Women's League, Relief of the Destitute, Relief of Orphans and Foundlings, the Evangelic Ladies Society, and the Women's Charitable Society — to make the rounds by turns in the various quarters of the city to draw forth charity. And indeed these committees passed among the houses and gathered great quantities of clothing and foodstuffs and sums of money, which showed the wakefulness of patriotic and humane feeling in the souls of the men and women of Tripoli. On the other hand, the charitable societies have sheltered more than forty Palestinian girl children, whom they care for in the Orphan Girls' Home with every tenderness and attention, enveloping them in an atmosphere brimming with motherly affection; not a day passes but the members of the society press upon one another for the honor of serving these children, and of working to prepare the clothing and food they need and to watch over their comfort.

May God help Palestine out of its ordeal, and reward the benefactors, men and women, for every contribution they offer toward the comfort of our Palestinian brethren.

♦ Last month the engagement was concluded of the gracious Miss Hind al-Jabiri, daughter of Saad al-Din al-Jabiri, to Mr. Nazmi al-Nashed, at a brilliant party that gathered the friends of the two honorable families. To the two young betrothed, our congratulations...

♦ The American College for Girls continues to expend great efforts in presenting splendid artistic pieces, in acting and singing and various colors of art...
The people of Beirut have not forgotten the play "Qays and Lubna" and the success this beautiful play met with.
The latest offering of the Girls' College was the play "Al-Abbasa," which met with much admiration and appreciation — which moved the College to perform it a second time...
There is no doubt that the refined Beirut public finds artistic pleasure, and a sound and lofty taste, in these various artistic spectacles presented by the girl students of this refined institute...

♦ The Lebanese Women's League contributed the sum of 200 Lebanese lira for the comfort of the Lebanese army fighting in Palestine.

♦ Dr. Edma Abouchdid has returned from the United States, after spending two years at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and at others of the most famous hospitals, where she specialized in gynecology and obstetrics, and particularly in the glands and their secretions. We have learned that the American University wishes to engage her as a professor in the obstetrics branch.
"The Woman's Voice" welcomes this humane personality and skilled physician, wishing her every success.

♦ God has blessed our generous friend Professor Philip Semaan, one of the professors of English literature at the American University of Beirut, and his cultured wife, Mrs. Hana, with a baby girl, whom they have named "Layla."
May God keep little Layla in the care of her generous parents.

♦ The committee for the Golden Jubilee of the learned scholar Sheikh Ibrahim al-Mundhir has issued an invitation announcing to the Lebanese, resident and emigrant, and to the Arab countries generally, that it has decided to appoint Sunday, August 29, 1948, at four o'clock, as the date for holding the jubilee celebration at Bikfaya. It thanks those who have contributed to carrying out this noble idea...
May God lengthen the life of our scholar al-Mundhir until his diamond jubilee.

♦ It is noticed that the number of ladies who speak from Radio Lebanon is on the increase, which points to a sound national literary renaissance in women's society.

♦ The National Orthodox Girls' School in Tripoli held, as is its custom every year, its Mothers' Party on the morning of Friday, June 4, 1948.
After the student Miss Basima Karimeh had delivered the opening address, the school presented the children in beautiful dances and splendid athletic games. Sweet songs sung by the children were interspersed among the games.

♦ Miss Edma Jahi, one of the girls of Bishmizzine in the Koura, graduated from the American University with a B.A. in English literature in 1947, and traveled to Smith College at Northampton, in America, to obtain the degree of M.A. Miss Jahi was granted this assistance on the strength of her excellence in her studies. She obtained the M.A. this year, and will complete her studies in Chicago to obtain the degree of doctor of philosophy.
Miss Jahi has undertaken to explain the Palestine question to American public opinion, which is ignorant of a great deal concerning this cause; she has given several talks in university circles, and then the various societies began to invite her to speak. The last of these talks she delivered before the board of the university at which she studies.
Lebanon is ever proud of its daughters, who carry it, wherever they alight, in learning, culture, and devotion...

♦ Miss Loris Ikhlas is one of the cultured women writers of Palestine, and the readers of "The Woman's Voice" know her from the articles of hers that we have published on several occasions.
"The Woman's Voice" had the pleasure of a visit from this brilliant writer last month, and it was a happy occasion for becoming acquainted with one of the most prominent young women working in the women's renaissance in Palestine.
Miss Ikhlas told us much about her journey to Sweden last year, where she represented Palestine at the women's congress held there, attended by women delegates from all the countries of the world...
Miss Ikhlas handed us the translation of a letter sent to her by an American friend whom she came to know at the said congress; the reader will find this letter in this issue. Miss Loris has returned to Palestine, to work there with the Arab women strugglers from among the young women of the Arabs.

♦ Mrs. Laure, the wife of His Excellency Sheikh Beshara El-Khouri, President of the Republic, traveled to France last month for medical treatment. "The Woman's Voice" wishes august Her Ladyship a speedy recovery, that she may return to her great humanitarian works at the side of His Excellency the revered President.

♦ Mr. Farid Nahan and his wife, of the notable Lebanese of Nigeria, have arrived from Africa; and "The Woman's Voice," which acknowledges Mr. Nahan's kindness toward it and his interest in it, welcomes the two respected guests and wishes them the pleasantest of stays in the hills of Lebanon.

♦ The Lebanese Child Protection branch of the Lebanese Red Cross invited the Beirut public to attend its opening ceremony last June.

The children opened the ceremony with the Lebanese anthem; then Mrs. Salma Karam delivered a kind address, and the writer Mari Yanni Ata Allah likewise delivered a kind address. The vice president delivered an address in which she saluted Her Ladyship the wife of the President of the Republic — who, on account of her enforced absence from Beirut, had deputized the Marquise de Freige — and then set out the purpose of founding this branch, which aims to protect the Lebanese child from evils. The address of the Red Cross was delivered by Mrs. Ellen Rihan.

The children of the home carried trays of beautiful roses and passed among those present with them...

This ceremony was attended by a throng of the finest women of Lebanon working in the humanitarian and social field.

♦ In early June died the venerable lady, the mother of Mr. Georges Haimari, Director of National Education, and her burial was celebrated in a solemn funeral in which the official delegations walked, escorting the great departed to her last resting place.

"The Woman's Voice" offers its due condolences to her son, the Honorable Mr. Haimari, asking God's mercy for the departed.

♦ The following word has reached us:

The women delegates of forty women's institutions in Lebanon have agreed to unite their word and coordinate their efforts, this after they realized that they had been working separately in the fields of culture and social affairs — the more so since Lebanon is to be the seat of UNESCO's third session next autumn, and of the fourth session of the Commission on Women's Affairs of the United Nations organization in the spring of 1949.

On the twenty-seventh of May, 1948, at the invitation of Mrs. Laure Georges Tabet, they held a meeting in Tripoli and Beirut and resolved as follows:

1 - To form a committee under the name "Women's Solidarity in Lebanon."

2 - Its aim: to represent the aforesaid societies before the government and at national and international congresses.

On the third day of June, 1948, the committee held its first session at the home of Mrs. Laure Georges Tabet, and after deliberation on points relating to the international position of woman, the committee elected its bureau as follows:

Laure Georges Tabet, president. Alice Alfred Nakkash, vice president. Loris Habib Matran, treasurer. Farida Massoud Achkar, secretary. The lawyer Sonia Latif, secretary. And the advisers: Sumayya Hanna al-Makhazin, Minerva Qaysar Ghorayeb, Dr. Hadiya al-Rifai, Marie Farid Boulos, Adele Constantine Siyagha.