Janet Abou Hamad: An Emigrant Woman's Face That Does Honor to Lebanon

News of the emigrant colonies reaches us, from time to time, from every corner of the inhabited world, with reports of the sons and daughters of the Lebanese and Syrian community that are truly cause for pride and honor for this homeland..

Among the news from Venezuela, according to what has reached us from our energetic agent there, Mrs. Suad Salman, is that the "University of Caracas" has elected, by a majority of votes, Miss Janet Abou Hamad, of Lebanese parentage, to represent it at the "World Social Affairs Conference" to be held in Beirut in early September of this year.

Miss Janet Abou Hamad, thanks to her high culture and singular personality, and although she is no more than twenty-two years old, succeeded in obtaining the post of professor of social and humanitarian affairs at the great Venezuelan university. Though she was born in that country, and lost her father as a small child, she was able, thanks to the efforts of her mother, Mrs. Zahia Habeika, to complete her higher studies last year and to plant her foot firmly in a distinguished university position.

Miss Abou Hamad will arrive with her mother in Beirut at the end of August, spending a week in the Italian countryside on her way to the mother homeland. She is full of eagerness and longing to become acquainted with the home of her fathers, of which she has so often heard tales and anecdotes...

On the occasion of her departure, several banquets and parties in her honor were held in Caracas, the most important being the farewell party given by the "Lebanese Women's Association." Mrs. Suad Salman asked her about the subjects she would treat at the conference, and she replied:

— "The axis of my talk will rest on 'the influence of immigration in Venezuela,' and this study consists of three main points:
First — immigration and its social and economic influence.
Second — immigration and its agricultural and urban influence.
Third — selected immigration for the exploitation of the regions and lands now lying abandoned.

This together with an anatomy of the immigrant's life and its progress in all parts of Venezuela, particularly the agricultural region of 'Turén' in the state of 'Portuguesa,' in whose exploitation the Spanish, Italian, and German immigrants take part. As for the Venezuelan, the native son of the country, he withdraws from agricultural work and prefers employment and work in the petroleum oil companies, and the enjoyment of the large salaries and the means of comfort available to him and his family. In a word, I shall speak of the psychological factors that surround the Venezuelan people and keep them away from the farm and the field."

The Woman's Voice, in welcoming Miss Abou Hamad and her lady mother, wishes her a pleasant stay in Lebanon and hopes that circumstances will permit a meeting and a longer conversation with her...