Building Up the Lebanese Home

At the beginning of this month there came to Beirut Mr. Iskandar Murr, delegated by the sons of the late Naameh Yafet, founder of the glories of the Lebanese community in Brazil, to discuss with the heads of the American University of Beirut the postponement, to the month of May 1952, of the date of the dedication of the library whose costs were donated by the venerable lady Mrs. Afifa Yafet and her sons; and to settle with the leading men of the Lebanese government the matter of a second institution which the sons of that great genius are bestowing upon their birthplace: the erection of a building in the square of Dhour el-Shweir to serve as a house for the municipality — that is, an Hôtel de Ville — the first project of its kind in Lebanon.

Mr. Iskandar Murr was born in al-Jura, in Shweir — and he insists that he is a native of al-Jura. He received the schooling that qualified him to enter the scientific section of the American University at the school of Shweir, whose certificate he obtained at the age of fourteen. After spending four years at the University he received the B.A. degree, then received the title of M.A. (that is, teacher of sciences) in 1910. He was appointed an instructor at the said University and taught for one year, after which he traveled to the United States to study engineering; but he changed his program the moment he arrived, entering the commercial branch of Columbia University, and from there he went down to Brazil and engaged in trade until 1937, when he joined the firm of the Yafet family.

He did not abandon literary life during his emigration: in the newspapers of the Mahjar and in al-Usba al-Andalusiyya he has fine signed articles. He took part in preparing the ground for the branch of American University graduates in Brazil, founded in 1923 under the presidency of the late Naameh Yafet, and he still works in it with a fine body of the University's graduates; among its finest fruits is the establishment of an Arabic section in the great library of São Paulo. His honor was kind enough to favor The Woman's Voice with the following talk:

I am glad to have my talk published in your magazine, which we read over there with eagerness and delight, and we appreciate your concern for that distant half which, however far it may be, never ceases to be near.

Yes. The first thing I will say is that I am among the optimists about the future of our dear Lebanon; it is enough for me to have sensed, the moment I arrived, the sure desire to make this little homeland succeed. The talk of the older men, the young men, and the young women all turns on a single axis: the building up of the Lebanese home. The residents may not appreciate the building that has taken place in the last thirty years, but the emigrant is taken by these villages radiant with lights, and by these "villas" standing on the heights like dream palaces.

There are many things that pain the eye in some of the city markets, and there is a certain lack of organization in the matters of the telephone, the post, and public cleanliness; but it is enough for me — the emigrant — to hear the denunciation and the criticism, to believe that the vitality is there and that it feels the deficiency, and to be convinced that these good wills cannot but bear some fruit.

He was asked about the project of the Yafet library at the American University, and he said:

— I am a frank man. It pained me to hear from "some people" a grudging of this gift to a foreign project. So let me put a question to you. What is the opinion of the ladies in charge of the magazine — do they share the opinion of this "some" I have mentioned?

— The Correspondent — Never! The overwhelming majority of people profess the creed of "gratitude," sir. The "some" you mention are not people of ill will... but facing the needs of the Mountain, they would prefer the good to come to the Mountain. Yet all acknowledge that the work of the sons of Yafet lifts the heads of all the Lebanese. No reader will enter the library without taking pride that the sons of his homeland contribute to the University's educational work, and that this library is "his," because it was built with the money of Lebanon's sons... and that no American will be able to say: "We served and we taught, and there is no trace to show that our pupils remember us kindly."

He was asked about the municipal building in Shweir, and he said:

— I came expressly to postpone the date of the dedication of the library and to settle the building of the municipal house. I hope it will be ready next spring, so that the sons of "al-Muallim" Naameh may come and dedicate the two buildings together.

The building will stand in the square that bears the name "Yafet," and it will be built of three stories: the first set aside for the telephone, telegraph, and postal offices and everything connected with communications, for a tourism and summering center, for an information bureau, and for every transaction the summer visitor may need. On the second floor there will be a large hall for celebrations, evening parties, and the delivery of lectures. The third floor will be devoted to all the offices of the municipality, and it will contain

The Woman's Voice opened this section at the beginning of last summer to publish the benefactions of Lebanon's sons across the seas, and the institutions they build in the villages and cities where they first saw the light.

The management asks its readers to favor it with news of every institution built by an emigrant in his birthplace, with the name of the donor and a picture of the institution, so that the merit of the men of merit may not be lost.