As She Told Me — Adele Younes

Among the emigrants in our midst these days there are not only a number of men of eminent standing, but also a number of refined women of whom America is proud and of whom Lebanon is proud at the same time. Among these ladies is a young lady who left her country to visit the country of her family — her country by blood, even if not on the official papers. She is Miss Adele Younes, born in the United States to a Lebanese mother from Tripoli named Sarah and a Syrian father named Yusuf; thus she united in her blood Syria and Lebanon, which were never at any time anything but one country and one homeland.

Miss Younes is one of those women of high university culture: she holds a degree in education (B.S. in Education, A.M.) and is a teacher of English literature and the principles of education; she also holds the M.A. from Boston University in English literature and history. She is now working on advanced study beyond the M.A. at Brown University, in the city where she lives, that is, Fall River, north of New York, in the state of Massachusetts, and she is a member of the American Association of University Women.

— How many Lebanese are there in the city you come from?

— There are nearly three thousand Lebanese and Syrians, but we make no distinction between the Lebanese and the Syrian there, just as we make no distinction between sects and denominations. Some 80% of the inhabitants belong to the middle class, and about 10% are poor.

— How do you deal with the problem of poverty where you are?

— There are ladies and men who study social service. In 1935 President Franklin Roosevelt issued the Social Security Act. Every week or every month, a fixed amount is deducted from each individual's salary for this scheme. The government also establishes public works to employ the unemployed and the disabled, and these have special homes. There are likewise child welfare homes, and in the summer special programs are held in the public parks to entertain the children and youngsters.

— By what means does a woman secure her work inside the home and outside it?

— There are special children's homes that look after the children during the mothers' absence at their work; school time is also working time. Not all ladies work outside the home — only when the father needs help in earning money and raising the children.

— Does woman have the right to vote, and what positions does she not hold there?

— There is a lady in the Senate. Woman was given her right to vote in 1920. In my town we elected from our state a lady twenty-six years old, and she is one of nine ladies on the municipal council. There is also a lady lawyer who is a member of the council and has five children, and even so she manages to fulfill her duty as mother and as member of the council perfectly well.

— Do Arab families still teach their children the Arabic language?

— There are a number of teachers who give lessons in the Arabic language after school, but this is optional. Arabic instruction in the schools does not exist, for lack of sufficient demand for it, although French is given, because there are nearly five hundred thousand French. The number of Arabs in Boston and New York is large, but in the villages they are scattered, and so they forget their language.

I have one special request: do not believe everything you see in the cinema, for it is the worst propaganda about us, especially about the ladies and their lives in America. Immigration is open, and the field of work is open wide to the immigrant, but the government takes a very high tax from him, and living is expensive too. We have our problems, as every country has its problems: we have the problem of poverty, even though there is social security, and the question of the slaves is a thorny question with us, one that does not exist among you. We have associations called parents' and teachers' associations, which work to study the affairs of pupils between school and home. We also have schools for special groups, such as the weak-sighted and those afflicted with tuberculosis.

And there is one important matter, namely that the number of Lebanese among the mentally backward, Delinquent, is relatively very small, and this shows the influence of the life of the East and of the family upon the souls of these people.

"The Woman's Voice"