Society News

The harvest month... Before me on the desk is a pile of cards, all of them inviting me to commencement celebrations at which diplomas are distributed to those who have earned them, women and men alike...

Diplomas in the higher professions... university degrees... secondary and elementary certificates... and parties for kindergartens too... In the last part of June the educational institutes are in a bustle beyond all bustle, and the invitations are in full swing, knowing no truce...

Meanwhile the family makes ready for the ascent to the mountain, and the preparations that go with it have neither beginning nor end.

The Woman's Voice extends its congratulations to all its friends and readers who have won a diploma of some kind in this harvest season, wishing everyone success and steady advancement...

This school held its annual celebration on June 19, joined by the kindergarten, which is likewise attached to the university. The celebration was delightful and the attendance great; present were the wife of His Excellency the President of the Republic, Madame the wife of Dr. Charles Malik, the Honorable Director of National Education, and other prominent personalities. The celebration was interspersed with beautiful rhythmic dances performed by the pupils. The speaker of the occasion was Mrs. Faiza Maalouf Antiba, who delivered an address well suited to the moment, which made the loveliest impression. Then the Honorable Director of National Education, Mr. Fouad Sawaya, distributed the diplomas to the graduating boys and girls, and finally the wife of His Excellency the President of the Republic decorated Miss Alice Abdelnour, the school's directress, with the Order of Education, First Class, in appreciation of her many services in the field of education.

The General Arab Women's Union and the League of Women's Organizations gave a luncheon at the Bristol Hotel at noon on Wednesday, June 6, in honor of Lebanon's guest at the time, the Indian leader Kala Devi Chattopadhyay, attended by more than one hundred and sixty ladies representing most of the women's organizations in Beirut and beyond. The gracious guest was welcomed, in the name of the League of Women's Organizations, by its president, Mrs. Laure Tabet, who drew the honoree's attention to the conduct of the Indian Mrs. Kala Danfra at the congress of the International Women's Union in Geneva last April, and her support of Israel — deploring that conduct and asking for a clarification of it. Likewise,

Mrs. Ellen Rihan delivered the address of the General Arab Women's Union.

In reply to the two addresses, Mrs. Kala Devi delivered an eloquent speech in which she thanked the women of Lebanon for their warm welcome and their esteem for her. She then spoke at length of the women's renaissance in India. Among what she said: "The Indian woman was not compelled to struggle to obtain her political rights, because she was struggling and striving for the independence of her country side by side with her countrymen." When India won its independence, it was only natural that the Indian woman should share with the Indian man the fruits of the sacrifices they had made together, and that she should obtain her political and social rights like any other right. She then touched on the important role the Indian woman plays today in the advancement of her country: she works in every field — political, social, artistic, economic, literary, educational, and scientific — with complete devotion and sincerity, doing fruitful work that stirs admiration and appreciation.

Replying to Mrs. Tabet on the subject of Mrs. Kala Danfra, the one who claimed to represent India at the Geneva international congress, Mrs. Kala Devi said that all the women's organizations in India, including the All-India Women's Conference, had resolved not to affiliate with any international women's body and not to send anyone to represent them at any international congress held by these bodies, and that they had cut off their membership in the International Women's Union years ago. The said lady has not entered India for ten years and represented no one but herself, and we must not condemn India and India's policy on the strength of a statement made by an irresponsible person who represents no one but herself, like Mrs. Kala Danfra. She closed her speech by inviting the women of Lebanon to visit India, and she also hoped to encourage the exchange of visits among the Eastern countries as an important step toward understanding and cooperation.

... With the coming of summer and the close of the school season, the movement of comings and goings to and from Lebanon increases: some arrive for summering and touring, others set off for Europe or America for a change of air and recreation. And it always pleases us to record the movements of our readers whenever we come to know of them.

Mrs. Cléance Samara has returned from a trip to the United States that lasted ten weeks; she was in the company of her husband, Mr. Raif Samara, notary public of Beirut.

The trip, says Mr. Samara teasingly, was a second honeymoon!! And Cléance corrects him: it was merely a change of air, a look at the New World, and getting acquainted with dozens of relatives living there! The result is the same!

As for Cléance's delight in the Americans and her admiration for them, it surpassed her husband's delight and admiration. She was astonished by this true democracy on the social plane. Where could we, at a soirée crowded with bridge and poker tables, tell apart the millionaire's wife from the secretary, or even the waitress in the restaurant!!

And the Americans gasped, in their well-known way — gasped in astonishment, unbelieving that Cléance has five children, the eldest of whom, Bassam, is about fifteen years old!!

A number of receptions were given in honor of the two gracious guests, the most important being the dinner party to which Lebanon's two consuls, Mr. Halim Shbaia and Dr. Alif Jabara, invited them at the Lebanese consulate, attended by a crowd of the Lebanese colony there, especially people from Marjayoun — the birthplace of Mr. Samara and his wife.

... Mrs. Olga Shammas invited a bouquet of family and friends to a small family party, which turned out afterward to be the occasion of her birthday — the secret was betrayed by a large cake set in the middle of the table... with candles on it!!

It occurred to me, deep in my musings, as I watched Olga stepping elegantly among her guests and the members of her happy family — made up of her husband, Mr. Shukri Shammas, and her eight children, God keep them — it occurred to me: "Why should Olga Shammas not be elected Mother of Lebanon?" And what has become of that cause? For years we have heard no news of it.

As for me, I wish for every woman and every wife that her husband honor her and value what she gives him, as Shukri Shammas values what Olga gives him. As a gift for her birthday, he invited her to accompany him on a two-week trip to England, in which they would call at the summering haunts in the land of the English. By the time this issue appears, the happy couple will have returned from the trip. So welcome home, in advance!

It seems this summer has brought our friend Miss Nur Salman an abundance of luck — may it all end "as well as could be wished." On June 13 last she flew from Beirut... to Copenhagen, and from there to Moscow, in answer to an invitation from her uncle, Mr. Abdullah al-Najjar, Lebanon's Minister Plenipotentiary there. Nur expressed her amazement... how, do you suppose, will she pierce the Iron Curtain??

Among her traveling companions on the plane were His Grace Bishop Samaha, resident in Russia, and two nuns, the Sisters Maalouf and Catherine. In the streets of Copenhagen this stately procession drew every eye, with Nur in its midst carrying her crocodile-leather handbag!

No one yet knows when Nur will return from Moscow... her return depends on how well she takes to life there... and he who waits shall see!!

On Sunday, June 17 last, the remains of the late Asaad Tarcha, husband of Mrs. Heneni Tarcha, the Responsible Director of this magazine, were borne from Beirut International Airport — where they had been brought from the Mahjar — to his birthplace, Mimas. The body was carried in a great cortege in which walked the notables and people of Hasbaya and the neighboring villages, and his burial was solemnized with imposing ceremony. Around the widow of the departed, Mrs. Tarcha, gathered throngs of family and many friends, offering condolence and comfort.

• Iskandar Mufarrij, director of the Union Trading Company, and his madame have been blessed with a baby girl, whom they have named Rita — God keep her, together with her brother Johnny and her sister Joyce.

Lebanon has become the twenty-third state to approve the convention on the political rights of women. Last month Lebanon's ambassador to the United States of America, Mr. Victor Khoury, deposited the papers of his government's approval of this convention with the legal division of the General Secretariat of the United Nations. The General Assembly had approved, in December 1952, the Convention on the Political Rights of Women, which provides for granting women the right to vote and to hold public office, and for their exercise of their full rights on an equal footing with men.

On Monday afternoon, June 25, The Woman's Voice was visited by our agent on the Gold Coast, Mrs. Rosalie Khazai, accompanied by her friend there, one of our subscribers, Mrs. Minerva Bardaweel; the two are in Lebanon to spend the summer among family and relatives...

It is worth mentioning that Mrs. Khazai has rendered the magazine and the Lebanese colony in the Mahjar generous services that are remembered with much appreciation. Besides her activity working alongside her husband, she is widely active in the social field. In 1947 she founded the Lebanese Women's Union, which gathered the ranks of Lebanese womanhood to work together and to create an atmosphere of familiarity, understanding, and affection... Among her activity was the grand benefit that raised close to a thousand pounds sterling for the victims of the earthquakes in Lebanon, apart from her concern for numbers of the aged, the blind, and the destitute of the colony there...

The two ladies, Khazai and Bardaweel, told us of the fondness of the ladies of the Gold Coast for The Woman's Voice, and how they watch for its arrival. With Mrs. Khazai was her young firstborn, Adel, who has just passed his Certificat; we publish his picture on this occasion, with our sincerest congratulations.

On the occasion of Mothers' Day, the Nahda School in Achrafieh, headed by Miss Nelly Ayoub, organized a special week for mothers, interspersed with delightful talks and parties.

This successful week was concluded with a well-attended celebration under the patronage of the Director-General of the Ministry of National Education, Mr. Fouad Sawaya, who came especially to decorate Mrs. Victoria Dabbas with the Lebanese Order of Merit in appreciation of her distinguished services over twenty years in the field of women's associations and quiet humanitarian work. Speakers followed one another at this celebration: the Director-General, Mr. Sawaya; Mr. Halim Nahra, director of Mar Elias Btina College; and the literary lady Mrs. Asma Tubi — their speeches were rubies in the necklace of this unique festival.

And if we have a word of our own, it is to congratulate Mrs. Victoria Dabbas on her decoration, and to thank the directress of the Nahda School for adopting the idea of a "Mothers' Day" and encouraging its spread in her circles.