The First Lady of Lebanon Visits Zahle

Her Excellency the enterprising First Lady, Mrs. Zalfa Chamoun, accepted the invitation of the Child Care Society in Zahle and visited its project, the "Children's Home." The members of the society awaited her at the entrance of the house, which had been decorated with Lebanese flags, laurel leaves, and flowers, and the children stood in rows in their formal dress, singing like a choir of angels.

The president of the society, Dr. Antoinette Maalouf, delivered a well-turned address in which she welcomed the great guest and thanked her for her honorable stands, for her tender concern for humanitarian projects, and for accepting the society's invitation. She then described briefly the society's works and the progress of its project, the Children's Home, which takes in 120 homeless and orphaned children and provides them with schooling, food, and clothing at a cost of about 20 thousand lira a year. She went on to mention the great benefactor Mr. Najib Zalaqit, who gave his house over to the project, and said that the greatest credit for the founding of this noble humanitarian project belongs to Mrs. Emily Nasrallah.

After the children had recited some pieces and songs, the guests were invited to a buffet where they took refreshments and sweets. Mrs. Chamoun then made the rounds of all the rooms and departments, and was pleased by the order and thoroughness she saw; she praised the society and its officers and presented it with a thousand Lebanese lira, and this kind gesture had its effect on the hearts of the members.

She was then bidden farewell as she had been received, with every honor and hospitality. Before leaving Zahle she stopped at the school of the Antonine Sisters, at the Zahle branch of the Red Cross, and at the kindergarten of the Al-Nahda An-Nisaiyah society, where she was received with welcome, speeches, and songs.