The physically handicapped in Lebanon — the blind, the deaf, and the mute — were a heavy burden on their families and on society. Everyone regarded them with a negative look that went no further than pity... standing with folded hands, powerless to render any positive service to these wretches, deprived of the blessing of enjoying the sense of sight, or of hearing and speech... They lived in isolation, in perpetual abasement — a neglected heap in the corners of houses... Until, last spring, we saw them bring to life, on the stage of Beirut College for Women, a complete artistic performance of singing, acting, and playing — and the eyes of the audience brimmed with tears, moved by these living scenes. We said then: "Behind this blessed step there must stand a great heart and a giving, tender soul..." And our searching and inquiring led us to the sweet dark-haired Miss Widad Baroudi!
She loved the blind and the deaf, and enlisted to teach them...
I sat with her the better part of an hour, asking and she answering, drawing her toward the hiding places of the secret that drove a young woman like her onto the paths of this thorny, arduous work.
— "It is one of the dreams of my earliest childhood," Widad answered with her radiant smile. "In the days when I was a pupil in the school of Miss Aminah Khoury Makdisi, that noble lady used to invite the blind to visit the school, and would speak to us often about them and about the necessity of helping them, and spur us on to collect donations for them. My small heart would be wrung with grief for them, and I used to wish I could one day sacrifice for their sake more than my modest pocket money..."
— And this feeling grew in her breast at Ahliah National College, nourished at the hands of its principal, Mrs. Wadad Cortas, who
is no less ardent in the cause of the blind...
At Beirut College for Women: This natural inclination of hers was nourished further at Beirut College for Women, where she investigated these intractable social problems and wrote her thesis on "The Problem of Blindness in Lebanon." That study helped her to "knowledge"... thence to "the need to act"... thence to "love" of these wretched creatures — and love is the foundation of every good work...
The Rotary Club scholarship: It was a truly happy moment when word reached Widad that the "Rotary Club" had decided to grant her a scholarship to specialize for two years in the teaching of the blind
Blind players in a performance of Tawfiq al-Hakim's play "The River of Madness"