The Lebanese emigrant Mr. Aql Shakour, one of Lebanon's sons in Mexico, carries out many works of charity and improvement in his village of Bdebba in the Koura. He is a help to the poor, sending them of his money and of his food. The latest thing Mr. Shakour sent, some time ago, was a large quantity of honey, from the produce of his farms there, to be distributed among the poor of his village and the neighboring villages.
Word has reached us that Mr. Shakour is taking a great interest in bringing water and electricity to his village at his own expense. May God bless the generous emigrants.
The 'Arab Orphan Committee' at the American University of Beirut held a grand ceremony in which some of the orphanages of Beirut took part. The speakers were Messrs. Abdullah al-Mashnouq, Camille Chamoun, Fouad Suleiman, and Ghassan Tueni, together with His Excellency Dr. Abou Chaar; the president of the committee, Mr. Wadih Deeb; and Mr. Hanna Khoury, for the National Revival Committee at the University.
Our colleague the magazine "Asa al-Janna" resumed publication in the month of April, after a full year had passed since it was suspended in the wake of the coup of March 30, 1949.
We congratulate "Asa al-Janna" on its reappearance, that it may carry on the literary and social mission it performs so commendably.
Mrs. Edvick Jureidini Shayboub, editorial secretary of the magazine "The Woman's Voice," spent two weeks in Baghdad, during which she was able to make contact with the finest women's circles, and she was held in esteem by those circles, which appreciate in the editorial secretary of this magazine her energy and her vitality.
She was invited to numerous gatherings, and was thus able to explain the great mission that The Woman's Voice wishes to carry out in the Arab world.
Mrs. Shayboub brings back with her talks, articles, and poems by the literary women of Iraq, and delightful reportages that testify to the great women's renaissance under way in the sister country. Let the readers look for them in our coming issues.
• "Dar al-Kitab" has brought out two books in the Children's Library series by Mrs. Edvick Jureidini Shayboub: "Sami's Letter" and "My Cow Zahra." Four books have appeared in this series so far. They are among those lovely stories that portray the various sides of life in our country, the kind that circulate on the tongues of our children in their earliest years, and they are adorned with large colored pictures
by the brush of the artist Salwa Salah Mishalani.
In the town of Aley there is a blessed movement headed by Mrs. Aybina Khalaf, whose first aim is to build a home for the aged to serve all Lebanese, ladies and men alike, and of all communities without exception. The founding of this association goes back three years. It has carried out charitable works in which clothing and assistance were distributed to poor families.
Recently it succeeded in purchasing a plot of land on which to build this project, and it is now working to collect the necessary funds from generous Lebanese, both residents and emigrants, so that it may begin at once to carry out this humanitarian project, which will do much to help solve the problems of old age in our country.
The "Home for the Aged Association" has resolved that whoever builds at his own expense a room in this home, or more than one, shall have his name written upon its door as an everlasting memorial; and it calls upon the people of piety and charity to take part in this noble project.
• Mrs. Olga Thias and her husband, Mr. Shukri Thias, one of the proprietors of the Contracting and Trading Company, have returned from a trip through Europe and America. She appears in the picture with her husband and their children Hiyam, Issam, and Maram; and on April 6 she was blessed with a fourth child, whom they named "Nizam."
May God keep the four children in the shelter of their generous parents.
• At Bterram was celebrated the marriage crowning of the highly refined Miss Loulou Malik, daughter of the late Sheikh Elias Malik, to the gracious Mr. Sami Sarhan, one of Bterram's men of means. The crowning ceremony was of the utmost splendor and beauty, and was attended by many parties from Beirut, Tripoli, and the North.
The Woman's Voice extends its congratulations to the young bridal pair, wishing them a happy life.
• God has blessed Mrs. Hana, wife of Mr. Philippe Semaan, with a baby boy, whom they have named 'Sami.'
May God keep the new child, together with his sister 'Layla.'