Excerpts from the talk of Mrs. Ellen Rihan, member of the Municipal Council, which she delivered over Radio Lebanon on the occasion of Child Week, observed last month by the Society for the Protection of Lebanese Children, attached to the Lebanese Red Cross:
The society by itself is not solely responsible for the whole of the work. The government has duties, the Chamber of Deputies has duties, and the Municipal Council has duties toward children. Being a member of the Municipal Council of Beirut, I have felt the affection for the child, and the concern for his welfare, that stirs in the heart of every one of its members. I would therefore wish the Municipal Council to set aside its attachment to official administrative procedures and hateful routine, so that certain works may be carried out quickly which would bring the child and the country universal benefit. For it is a necessity, and among the council's duties, to establish organized playgrounds and gardens for the little ones in every quarter of the city, and to appoint a keeper to see to their cleanliness, and a cultured trainer of attractive personality to watch over the little ones at their play and give them sound athletic and patriotic direction. Then, once the whole city is provided for, the little ones must be absolutely forbidden to play in the streets outside the playgrounds.
Among the Municipal Council's duties toward the child is to pursue the begging syndicates that tie a child's fate to the fate of a sick man with an infirmity, alongside whom he roams the streets begging. How can we expect this child to grow into a man in the full sense of the word, when he has spent his childhood and his young years
walking beside a crippled man who displays his infirmity, grumbles at life, and sees only its gloomy face? How far is this, gentlemen, from the theories of modern psychology, which counsel that children be kept far from all such influences and woes, and that they see the laughing face of life, so that a love of life and a hope for the future may be created in them! And how can we expect self-respect and dignity of this child, who has grown used to the humiliation of begging and of pleading for mercy and pity — a thing that breeds servility in a man and kills human dignity? This is a crime the Municipal Council must fight, and fight quickly.
And there is a sight I shall never forget: the sight of those girls and boys near the slaughterhouse of the city of Beirut, picking over the refuse and sorting it for the account of a boss, or of a company that exploits refuse. Girls and boys in the dawn of life, spending their days among the filthy refuse, racing one another to gather it so as to earn a paltry
sum of money. The little ones are the beauty of life — so create a beautiful atmosphere for them; God did not create them to live in an atmosphere of filth, breathing in its stench. This too is a crime the Municipal Council must fight, and fight quickly.
These little ones will become the men of the homeland and its women. So it is the Municipal Council's duty, along with fighting beggary, to support the government in combating the employment of the young in filthy jobs that bring diseases upon them. And for its work and the government's work to be effective, it must call upon the Ministry of Education to open boarding trade schools outside the great cities, where these little ones may learn crafts and industries, the elements of agriculture, poultry-raising, and other productive occupations that would bring material benefit to the institution and to the children; and it must demand this, and demand that it be carried out quickly.
This is some of what I hope the Municipal Council of Beirut will accomplish — a council numbering active and capable members, equal to the responsibility laid upon their shoulders, and adorned with loyalty to Lebanon and to the sons of Lebanon.
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