The Syrian Woman in the Service of Childhood...

About six months ago the activity of the Syrian woman moved out to the countryside, which stands in the most urgent need of her, when a distinguished elite of the noble ladies and men of Damascus founded an association in the Western Ghouta district of the Damascus governorate and gave it the name of the women's "Child Protection Society," making its headquarters the village of Dummar; other branches will be established for it in the villages of the Ghouta according to need and the society's means.

Among its foremost aims:

1 — The protection of the child from birth until the end of the third year of his life, from both the health and the social standpoints.

2 — Working to lower the rate of deaths in the Syrian countryside.

3 — Helping to bring up the child by modern methods and to safeguard his health.

4 — Working to improve the child's nutrition.

5 — Caring for the mother in the times of pregnancy, childbirth, and nursing, and helping her to preserve her health so as to rear a generation strong and sound of constitution.

The society has been in touch several times with the Ministry of Health, the Directorate of Social Affairs, and the private charitable institutions and associations, to obtain their help and to cooperate together in the fields of charity and benevolence.

The president of this society, the wife of Khalil al-Nabki, assisted by the rest of the society's members, has begun delivering lectures and talks to mothers, distributing illustrated pamphlets, and showing motion-picture films on the effective means of improving the offspring and of rearing, feeding, and caring for the child and safeguarding his health in a way that guarantees his growth, and of showing the paths that keep him safe from disease.

If this blessed step — the first of its kind in Syria — proves anything, it proves the Syrian woman's realization of the importance of the countryside in the life of the nation and in the raising of its level.

On the twenty-eighth of last July the Child Protection Society held a great party in the garden of Manshiyat Dummar, and gave this party the name of the "Child Festival," because in the course of it the most beautiful village child enjoying good health was elected by a judging committee composed of:

1 — Dr. Munira al-Azm al-Khayyat, delegate of the Ministry of Health and Public Relief.

2 — Mrs. Zahra al-Abed, president of the Milk Drop Society.

3 — Mrs. Adila Bayhum al-Jazairi, president of the Syrian Women's Union.

4 — The physician Ahmad Qadri, former secretary-general of the Ministry of Health.

The party was under the patronage of the Minister of Health, who donated the first prize: a child's bed with all its furnishings.

The second prize was donated by the Governor of the city of Damascus: twelve children's blankets.

Mr. Salim al-Ghumyan donated twenty-five articles of children's clothing.

And before the close of the party the Minister of Education donated to the society the sum of one thousand Syrian liras.

The speaker of the party was His Excellency the Minister of Health and Public Relief, Dr. Murshid Khater, and this is what he said:

"This work of yours is a glorious work, for it bears the marks that glorious, immortal works bear. The government gives it its attention, watches over it with its sympathy, backs it with its encouragement, and extols the merit of those in charge of it, in view of the moral values it embodies — pure devotion in work, sacrifice, and good example.

"And on this occasion I bring to this noble gathering these glad tidings: the Ministry of Health has contracted with the World Health Organization for a project whose aim is the care of childhood and motherhood in this dear country. The equipment for this great work has arrived in Damascus, and only a few months will pass before the work begins on a wide and organized scale.

"This modest society will then be merged into that organization, where it will be like a gleaming pearl, radiating the light of its devotion, its sacrifice, and its good example."

Mrs. Vera Khoury also spoke, and this is what she said:

"... We all know that the child does not enter school a blank page; he enters school with the page of his soul already filled with the various impressions, good and bad, useful and harmful, to which he has been exposed in his family circle in the pre-school period, in the nursing period, and even in the period of pregnancy. These impressions are usually of such strength and firmness in the formation of the personality over the whole span of life that it becomes impossible to erase them or to modify them in any fundamental way.

What, then, are the impressions to which our children are exposed, especially in rural circles? We observe, with regret, that the poisonous, injurious impressions are the prevailing ones in these circles, save in rare cases. The child most often lives in his family in a milieu infested with moral defects, to which are added the lack of care for his state of health and his cleanliness, and the lack of care for the mother during pregnancy and nursing — all of which poisons the child's health, his feelings, his morals, his activity, and his intelligence, and makes the school's influence afterward weak and of little benefit, however great the efforts expended in this cause.

Therefore the fight against these poisons, and the warding off of their dangers from our children, must begin in the pre-school period; and this is a thing which, at the present time and in our present circumstances, none can undertake but societies like our society, which take upon themselves the protection of the child from the health and social standpoints; helping to bring him up by modern methods and safeguarding his health, his cleanliness, and his nutrition; striving to plant the seeds of good qualities in his soul and to keep him away from the influence of moral defects; and caring for the mother in the times of pregnancy, childbirth, and nursing, and protecting her from the diseases and harmful agitations that injure the fetus and the infant and stamp them with their stamp for the whole of life. To attain this end it employs every possible means: the establishment of centers for care and health guidance; the making of visits to inspect homes and to offer counsel and guidance to mothers; the delivery of lectures and public talks; the issuing of bulletins on the various subjects connected with the rearing of the child from the health and moral standpoints; helping girls' schools to give attention to this subject, so as to prepare aware and understanding mothers — and other serious means besides.

On this basis our society was formed at the beginning of this year; it laid down its statutes and its program of work and began its activity, and it will continue this activity in the measure of the sympathy, support, and encouragement it meets."

Here are three verses from the poem recited by Miss Sarah al-Qurbi, daughter of Jamil al-Qurbi:

The gleam of meekness and of charm
and the light of innocence and purity
and the magic of childhood in its radiance
shine from your eyes, my little girl
And in your smiles there is a pure dawn
and a magic like the bright light of hopes
that opens in the soul the spring of feeling
and fills it with serene tenderness
O my little girl, my innocent angel,
O star in my wretched darkness,
In your face are the loveliest pictures of beauty
that a genius has drawn with all his art