Child Welfare in the Fayha

Have you seen how the gardener surrounds his seedling with care and attention, how his eyes are delighted by the sight of what he has planted as it steadily sprouts and grows, and how his soul rests content at the fruitful results and abundant benefits attained by his effort and the perfection of his work? Such was the feeling of every one of us, the founders of the Children's Welfare Society in Tripoli, when these ripe fruits — or rather these tender, supple buds and blossoms — stood before the assembled crowd, the light of joy and smiling shining in their faces, and the spirit of life and vigor showing in their small bodies. And how happiness flooded our souls when our children began to recite for our ears what the kindergarten had planted in their minds of learning and knowledge in the three languages — Arabic, French, and English — with beautiful diction and clear, plain speech without a single blemish.

And though I may forget what we saw, I shall never forget those lifted brows and small craning necks delivering — with enthusiasm overflowing from them — the marvelous dialogues that carry one away from the narrow bounds of sectarianism and lead him to the love of the homeland as a whole, to self-sacrifice in its cause, and to reverence for its flag fluttering above our heads.

I must also point to what my eyes saw of the tears of joy that welled from the eyes of many of my companions — tears that expressed, unbidden, their thanks to God, who granted us what we had sought and what our souls had yearned for when, a few short years ago, we founded this society, which set as its first aim the establishment of a purely national institute to gather within its walls the children of our dear Fayha and to undertake their training, the polishing of their minds, and the education of their souls in a spirit of national devotion pure of foreign taints.

After what we witnessed at our institute's ceremony, every one of us is eager at heart to enjoy the sight of this garden which our hands planted and our eyes — nay, our hearts — tended, despite the difficulties and objections that met the women in charge of the project's administration, objections issuing from those weak in faith in God and in confidence in themselves. And what adds to the pleasure is that our institute, after beginning — according to the law of nature — small, with a single class and a children's garden only, has gone on growing until this year it presented the pupils of its final class for the elementary certificate, and their share of success came to a rate of eighty percent.

But amid this flood of joy there is something that saddens: this fragrant bouquet of our children, having passed through the first stage of its school life, will now scatter from the place of its upbringing to various institutes — and the cause of this dispersal is nothing but the lack of the material means to pursue the second, complementary stage.

Yet the society's dreams are stirred by a hope of enlarging its material means, so as to make of this project an institute rivaling the finest institutes in our country.

May God fulfill these hopes through the energy of the worthy president, Mrs. Aliyeh Zouk Shawqi, and her fellow workers.