Iraqi Women's Activity: The Children's Protection Society in Mosul

The Woman's Voice has previously written in detail about the activity of women in Baghdad, but this is the first time that news has reached us of the activity of women in Mosul (northern Iraq), sent to us by Mrs. Nazima Abdullah, and it gives us great pleasure to summarize what came in her charming letter.

Woman in Mosul has been active since 1937 in a fruitful humane project, the "Children's Protection Society" — the first women's charitable association in Iraq — founded by Mrs. Saadiya Khayr al-Din al-Umari. It turned first of all to erecting a dispensary equipped with doctors, nurses, and medicines, adjoined by a garden containing games and means of amusement for the little ones.

In the seasons and the feasts the society distributes clothing and food to its poor visitors, and the scope of its assistance extends beyond that: it takes a number of families under its wing and constantly bestows gifts on the infirm and the needy...

Part of the society's program is the fight against illiteracy, at which it works with surpassing energy. It has also built a hall for holding parties and charity bazaars, the whole proceeds of which go to the society's fund.

And the "Children's Society" — the only women's association in Mosul — is still persevering in the solution of women's problems, however varied and numerous they may be. Its members meet to study these problems, hold literary gatherings, and convene general sessions in the middle of every month; and it has set aside one day a week for sewing and for preparing the exhibits of the annual charity bazaar.

In recognition of the merit of the "Children's Protection Society," the Iraqi government has granted the Silver Medal to three of its senior members: Mrs. Fadila Abdullah Nash'at, the president; Suad al-Sabunji, the vice-president; and Miss Khadija al-Khalidi, the secretary. It was a gracious gesture on the government's part, which we record to its credit as a matter of setting things in their proper place, in appreciation of their valuable services and their noble works.

The Woman's Voice congratulates the board of the Children's Protection Society on the Silver Medal... and forward!