Text of the Speech Delivered by Mrs. Salwa Mahmasani Moumina in the Name of the Lebanese Arab Women's Federation at the Farewell Dinner Banquet

Text of the speech delivered by Mrs. Salwa Mahmasani Moumina in the name of the Lebanese Arab Women's Federation at the farewell dinner banquet — given by the preparatory committee of the convention of the Federation of Syrian-Lebanese American Societies of the Eastern States — at the Hotel Ambassador on the twentieth of August, 1950.

In my own name and in the name of the Lebanese Arab Women's Federation, I bring you the greeting of the Lebanese woman, O emigrant compatriots.

The bonds that tie us to you were created by God from all eternity; they are the bonds of kinship, of friendship, and of neighborliness in the land of one homeland.

My greeting to you, then, holds in it the tenderness of a mother, the affection of a sister, the longing of a beloved, the devotion of a father, and the eagerness of a child — the dearest and sweetest sentiments that exist in this world.

Lebanon has kept a happy national feast at your return, proud of your achievements and of the standing you have attained — a standing that bespeaks intelligence and genius, and bespeaks nobility of stock and nobility of character. You have proven yourselves to be of the loins of those who conquered the ancient world with their sciences, their commerce, their inventions, and their civilization — O best of workers!

You are Lebanese or Syrians before you are Americans. In your veins runs blood nourished by the sweet waters of our country and purified by its pure breezes — breezes that accompany you wherever you alight and wherever you turn, carrying the sentiments of your compatriots, rejoicing at your joy, grieving at your pain, and being to you the best of companions and friends.

Remember, then, the homeland that holds the remains of your ancestors, that shades their good souls, preserves their glorious monuments, watches over their children, keeps faith with them and with you, and does not forget you.

The joy of this gathering will remain within the breasts of your compatriots, and from it they charge you to carry to your children a store that will ward off the assaults of forgetfulness. Teach them, then, the language of their country, that they may grow up loving the beautiful lands that watch for them from afar and call them by the dearest of names, faithful to the covenant. And who knows — perhaps longing will make them like those birds that yearn for their nests and return to them singing, however long the time of exile may last. For the homeland is beloved to every great soul, which goes on singing, like a sweet lyre, the melodies of the true homeland, remembering its beauty, throbbing with yearning for it to the end of time.

O emigrant compatriots:

The great country in which you dwell has furnished you with knowledge and experience, and we are in need of what you know. The woman's wish is that you succor the beloved homeland with your strong souls, filled as they are with love and faith. Grant it, then, a portion of your days; and then, if you wish to depart, be to it in your absence a shield to guard it from harm, and a hand that clasps our hands and strengthens our arm.

In conclusion, it pleases me to speak on behalf of the president of the Lebanese Women's Union, the venerable Mrs. Evelyne Bustros, and to mention this: the Union comprises most of the women's associations in Lebanon. These associations work in the various social, charitable, and cultural fields, among them: the eradication of illiteracy, the reform of the prisons, the teaching of vocational crafts to prisoners, the education of needy children at its own expense, and the sheltering and education of orphans. It has numerous dispensaries for the treatment of the poor, and free night schools, besides other charitable and reform works.

The Lebanese Women's Union comprises all these associations and assists them. And it desires that the Lebanese-American women's associations should join it as well, so that we may all be in contact and understanding, to work for whatever will bring good to our country.

Among the most important aims of the Union is the strengthening of the spirit of union and cooperation. It therefore wishes to offer a scholarship to two schoolgirls from among the daughters of the emigrant compatriots, to be designated by the honorable Federations Committee, to study at the American College for Girls in Beirut at the Union's expense — out of its desire to create a cultural bond in Lebanon between its two halves, the resident and the emigrant.

May God keep Lebanon, its august President, and its noble people.