Our Women's Activity Abroad — The White Hand Society in São Paulo

The White Hand Society is a seedling planted by the hand of the Syrian and Lebanese woman in the fertile soil of São Paulo; it grew and yielded ripe goodness, thanks to its administration, which has been and remains but a gardener tending it with the necessary care, in all faithfulness and exactness, offering of its ripened fruits medicine for the needy poor, food for the hungry, and clothing for the naked. It was founded on March 14, 1912.

Tens of years have now passed over the emigration of the Syrians and Lebanese, in which they have been, and remain, of three classes. One class fortune served: by their toil and diligence they won brilliant success, subduing commerce, then agriculture, then industry, and gained the wealth and dignity they had hoped for. One class kept perfectly to the Lord's Prayer — "our daily bread." As for the third, their fortune turned ill, whether through an illness that kept them from work or through the treachery of time and the calamities of events; these fell into the pit of misery — and how wretched is the stranger when he is poor!

From within the house the woman heard the moaning of the destitute and saw the misery of the needy, and from within her conscience she heard the voice of duty calling her to work. So she rose and formed a charitable association — the first women's association in this metropolis for the colony of São Paulo.

This society has served the poor of the colony for tens of years, giving all that entered its coffers in aid to the needy poor. Beyond this, it has taken its part in the public calamities, here and in the dear homeland: from aiding those stricken by drought in the north of this republic to the relief of the flood victims in Bahia; from the relief of the stricken in Syria at the beginning of the Great War to the assistance rendered to the Brazilian, Portuguese, Armenian, French, and Belgian Red Cross societies. Its members enlisted to nurse the sick and needy in the Spanish influenza; it paid from its coffers fifty thousand piasters to the Syrian Shelter, and thereafter sent to Syria 1,200 English pounds — 600 to the hand of Mr. Michel Lutfallah in Egypt, he being then president of the relief committee, and 600 to the president of the American University of Beirut, to be distributed among the needy. It rose up on the day of the Isidoro revolt of 1924 in this city and distributed foodstuffs to the value of 18 contos among the destitute fugitives, without discrimination of race or creed. Then it gathered from its coffers and from the generous of the colony 14,000 piasters, which it handed to the wife of President Carlos de Campos, she being then president of the committee for the aid of the widows and orphans of the revolt. It shared in preparing clothing for the soldiers in the civil revolution of 1932. Nor did it forget the Syrian orphan at the beginning of his growth, nor the son of al-Fayha on the day of his calamity, nor the wronged of Palestine in their affliction; it lately paid to the committee for the relief of the stricken of Palestine fifty contos. Moreover, when our society saw many of its poor arriving at the winter of life with no staff to lean upon and no dirham to shield them from the evil of want — and since we, as a colony that has its dignity, may not be a burden upon foreigners — we resolved to build a home for the aged, and that on October 14, 1935. We began to economize little by little and to search for a suitable place, and we were granted success, praise be to God, in purchasing a beautiful garden of 9,500 square meters, in the year 1939, containing a house made up of four rooms, a hall, a kitchen, and the rest. We repaired the house and inaugurated it in January 1945; it was complete in modern equipment and contained everything — except the old women; and hardly had one entered when the house was full and too small for the demand. Then, on June 19, 1946, we laid the foundation stone for the building of a home to hold tens of the aged; the building was completed, and we inaugurated it on May 16, 1948.

The home now contains 24 rooms; it has a reception room and a library for meetings, a room for handwork, with a winter hall for the men and another for the women, then dining rooms and a church for worship. We have forty-five aged men and women, served by eight nurses and attended by two physicians — the one a native and the other the son of a Lebanese from Jdeidet Marjeyoun — and at need we call in others. We attend to all their needs to the end of their lives, and at the death of one of them we bury him with all respect and according to the law of this generous country.

In the year 1922 the law of the ruler Getúlio Vargas was issued, requiring that charitable associations

and athletic and literary clubs be registered, on pain of losing their rights. So we set about registering it, and we entrusted the principal offices to our fine daughters born in this country, who bore the responsibility most excellently. The chair of the presidency was entrusted to Mrs. Olga Khamasiya Rizkallah, who was re-elected three successive times, together with the other officers whose names we shall mention.

On the society's silver jubilee the associations and clubs of São Paulo held a party in our honor under the patronage of the Homsi Ladies' Society, owner of the Syrian sanatorium. As for our pearl jubilee, that is, the fortieth year, we resolved to celebrate it in the home and to decorate four directresses from among those who founded the society and are still in its service, they being — with all titles preserved: Nazira Qar'ouni, Sola Heliu, Malvina Qalfat, Fariza Mirdawi; Adma Azar

Maalouf, whose donation was the largest individual benefaction. To these ladies the society presented its badge — the one it wears in silver — wrought for them in gold.

The Present Board of Administration

Nazira Qar'ouni: honorary president; the society bestowed this title upon her in 1934, deservedly, for her devotion in the service of the society and its project.

Acting president: Minerva Qalfat Siryani
Vice-president: Olga Khamasiya Rizkallah

General secretary: Juliette Mihirdawi Ghorab
First secretary: Yvonne Maalouf Daoud
Second secretary: Zelda Khamasiya Taleb
Third secretary: Asma Rahhal Khoury
Treasurer: Judith Chedid Saad
Assistant treasurer: Lily Saad
For sewing: Yvonne Daoud and Wadia Hazar

Directresses of handwork:
Abrasida Abu Saab, Salwa Qar'ouni Rizk, Lydia Latif Qariya, Najla Musa Haddad, Lydia Daoud.

As for the donors to the home who give monthly, they are:
the venerable Mrs. Afifa Nehme Yafith, Isabel George Maalouf, Salwa Haroun Azzam.

The internal administration of the home:
Alice Maalouf, Emilia Blan Nehme, Victor Shabshab, Lily Saad, Wadia Hazar.

Directresses of meetings and parties:
Basima Ghosn, Carmen Shabshab, Leila Mihirdawi Khamasiya, Olga Latif Heliu, Rozinfar Kuh Tamu, Adele Blan Haddad.

Advisers:
Malvina Qalfat, Fariz Mihirdawi, Marie Jabra, Latifa Frayha, Roza Trabulsi Khoury, Rogina Afis, Salwa Qutayt Mahfouz, Shamsi Nicolas George.

Benefactor members:
Adma Azar Maalouf, Zakiya Rizkallah George, Salwa Qutayt Mahfouz, the Mahfouz Brothers, Mariam Khalil Deeb, Nazira Qar'ouni, Tawfiq and Hassiya Khamasiya, Olga Khamasiya Rizkallah, Sarhan and Ibrahim Abdo Khoury, Sola Shakkur Heliu. These worthy persons met the costs of the rooms inscribed with their names — their reward is with God Most High. As for the gentlemen who contributed by their work, they are the engineers Dr. Eduardo Salem, Dr. Paulo Khamasiya, and Dr. Malta the younger (a Brazilian); and, for the accounts, Dr. William Suleiman Saad and Mr. Najib Rizkallah George. The one who stood steward over the work and took charge of the building from the laying of the foundation stone to the end was that zealous and worthy man, Mr. Ibrahim Abdo Khoury. And the agent for the properties, who has worked from his youth and works still, is Mr. Bahij Tawfiq Khamasiya, president of the Homsi Youth Society, owner of the Syrian orphanage.
May God enable us to do our duty.