The picture shows Mrs. Najib Salha receiving the thanks of Mrs. Salman, president of the Children's Welfare Society. Seen in the picture, from the right: Mr. Youssef al-Wus, president of the National Revival League; Mrs. Saidi, president of the Social Reform Society in Tyre; Mrs. Anissa Najjar, president of the Village Welfare Society; and others.

On the afternoon of Monday, March 18, the "Child Welfare" Exhibition was opened — organized, for the duration of this year's Child Week, by the National Revival Committee at the University, in cooperation with the Children's Welfare Society. The opening ceremony was preceded by a small program, at which addresses were given by Mr. Samir Ilmi, chairman of the exhibition committee, Mr. Youssef al-Wus, president of the National Revival League, and Mrs. Salman; and the piano was played by the two gifted children Walid Hourani and Azirtsian, and by little Layla Afif Salman. The child Suha Haidar also presented a charming Oriental dance. As for the children of the Child Welfare Home, they recited passages of verse that were received with approval, and Dr. Anouti distributed various prizes to the mothers who regularly attend the weekly guidance classes conducted by the society under the supervision of the outpatient-clinic nurses' section at the University, and to the outstanding children of the Home.

And it came as a happy surprise when Mrs. Salman rose and announced, in the name of Mrs. Badia Salha, her readiness to donate — in her husband's name as well — the costs of a day nursery and a dispensary. The audience applauded long. The crowning touch was the valuable address of Dr. Anouti; after this, the public was invited to take refreshments, donated by the University administration. They then proceeded to the exhibition, which lasted three days.

And a Child Protection Week!

The Child Protection Society is a second institution concerned with children. Its president is Mrs. Alice Bardaweel, and it has in Beirut four free homes in the following quarters: Achrafieh, Hamra (Ras Beirut), Mazraa, and Furn el-Chebbak. These homes take in four hundred children, without distinction of religion or sex, and provide them, besides clothing, with milk and midday meals.

Child Protection will also hold a Child Week of its own, beginning on April 8 and ending with Child Day on the 14th, which falls on Palm Sunday.

Throughout the week Radio Lebanon will broadcast children's programs in which clusters of children from the "Protection" homes will take part, together with a select group of men and women of letters, among them Asma Tubi, Raji al-Ra'i, and Elias Khalil Zakharia; the week will be closed, speaking for the Society, by Diana Ghantous Andraos.

All this is lovely... It is lovely that we protect wretched childhoods, work to raise their standard of living, and make up for the deprivation they suffer... But what prevents our children in Lebanon from having "one week" and "one day" on which to celebrate and for which to spread the publicity? Why do the women in charge of childhood projects — all of them workers for the good — not unite their word? Why do they not unite and all work in a single rank, so long as the aim of every one of them is noble and humane?