Our Girls with Nature... in Its Purity and Beauty

On a knoll among the loveliest knolls of Dhour el-Choueir, amid the tall mountain pines, the "Women's Cooperation Club Camp" was set up. The tents were pitched in an arrangement of the most admirable order, which turned the place into an ideal haven of rest, tranquility, and health. There were five large tents, each holding eight beds, and here and there among those large tents a number of small tents were pitched for the leaders, apart from the dining hall, the meeting hall, and other quarters. The camp lasted ten weeks, beginning on the first of July and ending on the eighth of September, and this period was divided into five sessions, each of them a camp in its own right: the "Munjidat camp," the "nutrition camp," the "working girls' camp," the "employees' camp," and the "rest camp for club members." The Munjidat camp has a special program that the Munjidat draw up themselves: there is a supreme council for the camp and an administrative and legislative council, besides the various committees and teams. The Munjidat see to the enforcement of the laws they have made themselves, and in this way they train for practical life with a freedom born of the performance of duty and the love of order.

At seven o'clock in the morning the flag is raised and the national anthem is sung, and after that comes breakfast. Then the Munjidat divide into teams, each team carrying out the household tasks that fall to it — washing the dishes, setting the table, gathering firewood for the evening fire, and collecting the refuse and burning it. When these tasks are done, a period is set aside for study and discussion of scientific, social, and domestic subjects; and every hour in the camp holds useful surprises prepared by the different teams. Here is the music team, meeting with its leader to hear a talk along with some famous classical pieces. Here is the handicrafts team, eager to finish a special album it is binding to collect the camp's photographs. As for the drama team, it is absorbed in preparing a program for the evening gathering. The rest of the day is spent in rest and in short excursions to various places for recreation. In the evening a gathering is arranged, interspersed with singing, dancing, and acting, in which each girl brings out her hidden talents; then the campfire is lit, and around it rise the songs and chants.

The nutrition camp brought together nearly forty girls who work in the various factories and whose bodies need complete rest and careful attention to their health so that they may be able to carry on their work with vigor. These working girls spent ten days in the open air, restoring the vigor and vitality they had lost over the whole winter.

These girls organized a special program of lectures and studies, framed so as to be easy for them to understand, for the enlightenment of their minds.

As for the working girls' camp, it was set up for those who work in the various factories — the silk and cotton mills, the commercial houses, and the tobacco and tombac company. Their bodies and minds need rest so that they may return to their work refreshed. The camp was the one place for their repose, where they spent eleven days during which they gained blooming health and complete rest. The employees' camp brought together more than forty, who came seeking rest beneath the shade of the pines. They arranged a simple program for themselves, and warm, sincere friendships were formed.

At last the camp closed with its final session, the "rest camp," which was followed by a conference of members and leaders.

The appointed time of the camp passed, with all wishing it had been longer, for they had mingled with nature and felt its beauty; and so their faith in it, and in themselves, grew.