In Society

★ At the beginning of December the League of Women's Organizations in Lebanon held a meeting of the general council, attended by a large number of members from all the cities and villages of Lebanon.

After the president of the League of Women's Organizations, Mrs. Laure Tabet, had welcomed those present, the president of each committee came forward with a report on its work during the year 1953, and an atmosphere of familiarity and affection prevailed over the meeting.

★ Between December 7 and 14 the society "Al-Nahda An-Nisaiyah" celebrated the Week for the Fight Against Illiteracy in Lebanon; for this society, which first directed its efforts toward encouraging national manufactures, has in recent years turned its activity to the fight against illiteracy, and has built several schools for girls in the remote villages, wherever the government concerns itself with the schooling of boys and not of girls!

The "Week for the Fight Against Illiteracy" was opened over Radio Lebanon by the president of Al-Nahda An-Nisaiyah, Mrs. Najla Kfoury, and there followed speeches by Mrs. Ariette Khoury, Dr. Jean Merhej, Mrs. Ellen Rihan, and Mrs. Laure Tabet; and Mr. Salah Labaki closed the week.

The Week for the Fight Against Illiteracy was likewise brought to a close with a grand dancing party held at the Bristol Hotel, at which a lottery drawing took place, along with contests of elegance and beauty. As usual, the commercial houses donated all the prizes, in encouragement of the Week for the Fight Against Illiteracy and in appreciation of its noble educational mission.

★ In Cairo, between the 5th and 17th of last month, was held the "Conference of Social Studies on Delinquent Juveniles," bringing together representatives from all the Arab countries, who took up in research and study the most important practical and effective methods for solving the problems of juveniles, and for protecting them from the dangers that drag them into vagrancy and crime.

Lebanon was represented at the Conference of Social Studies on Delinquent Juveniles by the president of the Union for the Protection of Juveniles, Mrs. Alice al-Qird Nakkash, who delivered an important statement at the conference, which we shall publish in the next issue.

Mrs. Nakkash was accompanied to the conference by the delegate of the Union for the Protection of Juveniles in Lebanon, Miss Georgette Abousamra, who is counted an expert in juvenile affairs, in view of her continuous work in this institution for a period of ten years.

★ Our poet Mr. Georges Saydah and his wife have returned from a tour around the world, and have put up at the "Normandy" Hotel until they succeed in finding a suitable house to live in in Beirut.

No short while had passed since Mr. Saydah's return before he hastened to call on the president of the Lebanese Women's League, Mrs. Heneni Tarcha, and to donate five hundred Lebanese lira to the League.

He was likewise kind enough to visit The Woman's Voice, and stayed about an hour, taking up in discussion the affairs of the present, and in particular those among them that concern woman...

In answer to a question put to him about the length of his stay in Lebanon this time, Mr. Saydah said:

"We are staying here — as long as Hanna Ghosn is here!!..."

So a hearty welcome to the beloved poet — and may Mr. Hanna Ghosn and his wife remain in their homeland Lebanon always, as long as its cedar stands!

★ Miss A'idah Shakir Sa'b invited a company of her friends and relations to her house in Shweifat on the occasion of her betrothal to the young man Tawfiq Assaf, one of the proprietors of the "Pepsi-Cola" company — a young man endowed with the high qualities that fit him to become the husband of a young lady like A'idah Sa'b!!

For the bride is an intimate friend of The Woman's Voice, and for a long time she nourished the children's column; she published the book "Toward an Understanding of Childhood," and she is a graduate of Beirut College for Women; and above all these merits, she possesses beauty both of character and of person!! So we congratulate Mr. Tawfiq Assaf on his happy choice and his sound taste, and wish the two young people happiness and the fullness of joys...

★ On December 21 Mrs. Khayriyya al-Sheikh Karam celebrated the wedding of her son Mr. Nizar Izzat al-Ariss to Miss Rihab, daughter of Mr. Othman Kraytem.

The marriage contract was concluded at a pleasant party gathering family and friends. To the bridal pair and to their honorable families, our warmest congratulations and good wishes.

★ At the beginning of the month of December Miss Edma Bayyoud, president of the board of directors of the Young Women's Christian Association, left Beirut for the United States to spend her annual holiday; it is hoped that she will return to us in the middle of next February.

Miss Bayyoud will pass by the Association's world office in Geneva to discuss with the responsible officials the question of employing the Arab refugees in eastern Jordan.

And in New York Miss Bayyoud will approach the higher authorities to raise a subscription for the erection of a new building for the Young Women's Christian Association — so we wish her a blessed journey and a return crowned with success.

★ The "Ahl al-Qalam Society" convened on Friday, December 11, to elect the president and those members of the administrative council whose terms had expired.

The election of the president was taken up first, and the former president, Mr. Salah Labaki, won by acclamation.

The election resulted in the success of: Dr. Zahia Kaddoura, Dr. Jabbour Abdel Nour, Dr. Ali Saad, Mr. Victor Hakim, and Mr. Abdul Latif Sharara.

At a second meeting, held by the administrative council of the Ahl al-Qalam Society on Wednesday, December 16, to elect the officers of the bureau, Mr. Salah al-Asir won the vice-presidency, Mr. Jamil Jabr the treasurership, and Mrs. Emily Fares Ibrahim the general secretaryship.

★ The Lebanese Cénacle continues its accustomed activity, organizing valuable lectures by the leaders of thought and letters, through the energy of the Cénacle's founder, Mr. Michel Asmar. On December 15 Dr. Jamal Karam Harfush lectured on the subject "From Social Differentiation to National Unity"; she analyzed her theme with fine precision, and gave it its full due of study and statistics. On this occasion we call the attention of our readers, men and women, to the fact that The Woman's Voice will proceed, beginning with the next issue, to publish Dr. Jamal's lecture, in its concern to spread it among those circles which, for various reasons, were unable to hear it at the Cénacle.

★ On December 18 the Lebanese Women's League issued a general invitation to a lecture by Mrs. Laure Tabet, president of the League of Women's Organizations in Lebanon, on "Woman's Work in the Municipality." In her lecture she answered a question long repeated on people's tongues since woman's entry into the last Municipal Council, in the persons of three women members: Miss Ibtihaj Kaddoura and Mesdames Laure Tabet and Ellen Rihan. The lecturer succeeded in tracing the stages through which the Municipal Council has passed until it finally reached a state of stability and organization that gives it the possibility of improving the present condition of the city of Beirut, by training the police and preparing them technically to perform their task as it should be performed...

We feel the delicate and arduous position through which our three women members of the Municipal Council are passing, but we believe most firmly in their skill and their sincerity in work — for this is their very task, and they are the best fitted for it.