The Child's Cradle

The "Child's Cradle" association is a charitable institution that carries out important humanitarian work of which one seldom hears news, or about which anything is made public. With tenderness and love it shelters foundling children whom no one wishes to keep.

It has become the custom for these children to be placed, in their first days, before the "Lazariyeh Gate" near Martyrs' Square, and from there they are carried to the Child's Cradle, where they meet with excellent treatment and hygienic care that make them forget the parental tenderness of which nature deprived them.

When a child reaches the age of four, the boys are sent to certain monasteries where they are trained in manual trades and various crafts, while the girls are distributed among the convents in the villages of the mountain, the foremost of them the village of Zouk, famous for its national handicrafts. Under the administration of the nuns the children receive moral protection, and the girls learn sewing and embroidery.

In the "Child's Cradle" today there are about a hundred children, ranging in age from one day to four years, and it is no secret what heavy expenses such an undertaking requires to secure food, clothing, and service.

The president of the association, Mrs. Sylvie Trad, declared in a conversation with the representative of "The Woman's Voice" that the "Child's Cradle" is indebted to the government for its generous assistance and its material sympathy, which the honorary president, Mrs. Laure Khoury, wife of His Excellency the President of the Republic, works to secure.