Mrs. Louis Nassif Visits "The Woman's Voice"

From this goodly caravan we shall present today Mrs. Shahraban Nassif — a face that raises Lebanon's name beyond the seas. She came to "The Woman's Voice" on the morning of Tuesday, July 19, in the company of Mrs. Heneni Tarcha and Mrs. Nazik Sarkis.

Mrs. Nassif has read "The Woman's Voice" from its earliest beginnings down to this very day. It became our right, then, to make Mrs. Nassif's acquaintance and to ask about her.

It was a delightful hour in which we listened to Mrs. Nassif's talk and followed her steps with pride and admiration. She is the first lady to head the Eastern Federations — one of the five national federations in the United States, presided over by Mr. George Barakat, which bring together citizens of Arab origin...

The Eastern Federations, which Mrs. Nassif heads, have 2,200 members, who work with fervor to tighten the bonds of understanding and affection between the American people and the resident citizens. They help invigorate humanitarian projects in the homeland by extending financial assistance, and they also pay each year for three outstanding Lebanese or Syrian students to pursue advanced study at Princeton University.

This is the fourth time Mrs. Nassif has visited Lebanon since 1946, and she looks forward to the results of the Emigrants' Summer with a great deal of optimism and hope!

A quick word about her private life is in order. Mrs. Nassif now manages, in partnership with her father-in-law, a successful business founded by her late husband forty years ago. As for the great tragedy of her life, it is the loss of her only son in battle during the Second World War! So the bereaved mother rises to lull her tears and her grief, and fills her emptiness with fruitful social work, lest idleness wake her to the horror of the calamity... Herein lies Mrs. Nassif's greatness, and her distinction above other mothers!

She quite carries you away with her eagerness in speaking of the work of the Eastern Federations — how the wives of the five Arab ambassadors in Washington gathered: Mrs. Malik (Lebanon), Mrs. Zeineddine (Syria), Mrs. Ahmad Jabbar (Saudi Arabia), Mrs. al-Shabandar (Iraq), and Mrs. Hussein (Egypt), together with a company of ladies such as Suriya and Genevieve Rizk and Hanneh Daoud, working hand in hand with the members of the Eastern Federations to hold a charity bazaar of Arab food. On its tables were heaped great quantities of ma'moul, spinach pies, vine leaves stuffed in oil, baklava, and so on — all made by our own ladies — and sold to the bazaar's visitors, most of them Americans!... The proceeds came to 1,367 dollars, presented yesterday as a gift to Father Kortbawi's institution... Last year's gift, worth 1,600 dollars, went to the Musa Alami project.

...A mighty activity, without a doubt, on which Mrs. Nassif and her colleagues are to be congratulated — and no wonder she has been chosen president of the Eastern Federations two years in succession! For when a woman is devoted, she gives herself wholly in her devotion, and gives of her mind, her heart, and her whole being...

Blessed be the woman devoted to her homeland and her society — women like Mrs. Nassif.