“Fairuz” magazine features long article on Mrs. Leila Ben Ali

Lebanese “Fairuz” magazine devoted, in its November issue, a long article on First Lady Leila Ben Ali, Chairwoman of the Arab Women Organisation (AWO), under the title: “Leila Ben Ali, a Modern Intellectual of Great Modesty.”

The monthly, which announces the article on its cover, stresses the qualities and virtues of the Head of State’s wife, a woman who has always shown kindness to needy persons and tenderness to the special-needs children, while remaining humble, open and tolerant. The magazine highlights the humanitarian action undertaken by Tunisia’s First Lady as part of her responsibility at the head of the Basma Association for the Promotion of the Disabled Employment, as well as through her efforts to take care of persons lacking support, to strengthen Tunisian women’s and families’ positions and promote social action, in general.

The article, illustrated by several photographs of the wife of the Head of State showing her numerous activities, points to the distinguished initiatives of Mrs. Leila Ben Ali, be it with regard to her participation in AWO’s different meetings or as part of her current chairmanship of the Organisation, which are all aimed to promote the status of Arab women and enhance their position in Arab societies.

The three-page article underlines that Mrs. Leila Ben Ali “wishes to remain a Tunisian citizen, just like her fellow citizens, a woman who takes care of her family’s day-to-day business, in charge with her children’s education and striving to develop in them the spirit of self-reliance, respect of work and effort, the values of fraternity, mutual aid and tolerance, etc., as well as love of the homeland, pride in civilisational belonging and the spiritual, cultural and social values of the Tunisian people, without severing ties with the culture of the era and its shared humanist values.”

The author of the article writes that the President of the Republic’s wife pursues efforts to encourage Tunisian women to show that they are worthy of the privileged position they hold, to remain a factor for construction and work.

The magazine, which is published by Lebanese Essayed publishing house, specifies that the education that Mrs. Leila Ben Ali received from her parents left in her a deep imprint of humanism that has always stimulated her love for others and her support to any person in need.

Mrs. Leila Ben Ali, it adds, is involved, with mounting enthusiasm and faith, in social action as she chairs many charity associations, such as the S.O.S. Children’s Villages Association and the El Karama Association and other associations active in the area of supportless youths and the disabled.

The magazine points out that all social segments, such as the elderly, needy persons and those without support, as well as rural women, benefit of a special attention from the First Lady, specifying that special needs persons among the disabled benefit from particular interest insofar as the Basma association, chaired by Mrs. Leila Ben Ali, lends assistance to efforts exerted by the State and to the great presidential care bestowed on this social segment, while opening for the disabled doors of hope and prospects for effective integration into the production process and multiplying job opportunities for them, or also by helping them create their own income sources and small businesses, as part of self-employment.

The Lebanese monthly recalled that the “Télé Amal” event, held by the Basma association under the high patronage of Mrs. Leila Ben Ali in 2004, helped create an open space for all disabled and their families to communicate and get to know one another, and offered them modern services that had been a dream for the disabled. It highlighted adherence of Tunisians to this charity initiative, as reflected in the donations offered to back up and materialise this project.

“Fairuz” magazine reviews efforts exerted by Mrs. Leila Ben Ali to promote the special needs segments, underlining that the First Lady chairs and oversees the organisation of different events for needy children and orphans to meet their needs, while bringing joy and happiness to them and teaching them the spirit of belonging to the homeland.

The wife of the Head of State, the publication adds, also lavishes affection on the elderly by paying visits to residence centres of this segment to cheer them up while granting special attention to children who face problems by receiving them.

The publication underlines that while caring for continuity and efficiency of these activities, Mrs. Leila Ben Ali also makes sure that they are held away from any propaganda.

The monthly reviews prizes, distinctions and tributes paid to the First Lady at the regional and international levels, in consideration for her efforts for the sake of family and promotion of social action, including in particular the International Family Prize (May 2000) and her choices as the 2000 personality of international family.

The magazine also points to Mrs. Leila Ben Ali’s being awarded the Gold Medal of Excellence of the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organisation, on August 12, 2003, in tribute to her role in advancing Arab women’s condition and the 2005 Peace Prize awarded by the institution “Together for Peace,” in consideration for her high humanist sense in her initiatives for needy categories to find efficient solutions to social problems, as well as her commitment to strengthen Arab women’s position.

The publication adds that Mrs. Leila Ben Ali had received, on February 9, 2008, the high distinction “Compagnon of Melvin Jones” from the International Lions Club Association, in recognition for her efforts in social actions and in consideration for her humanitarian action for special needs segments, as well as the Shield of the International Organisation of Women Heads of Business, on August 12, 2006, and the Golden Shield of the Arab Women Organisation, on March 25, 2008, in consideration for her sustained efforts to strengthen and promote the position of Arab women.

The magazine points out that this tribute and these international distinctions show the important efforts and initiatives taken by the First Lady to preserve the family.

They also, the publication adds, translate the deep conviction of the wife of the Head of State that family remains the foundation of any healthy and balanced social construction, underlining that Mrs. Leila Ben Ali has called to exert greater efforts to energise the role of fathers and mothers to dedicate more time to their children and protect them against all negative phenomena.

The Lebanese magazine points out that efforts and time that Mrs. Leila Ben Ali is devoting to these activities never made her lose sight of her duties as Tunisia’s First Lady, as she escorts the President of the Republic on his official trips to sisterly and friendly countries and also during his visits to disabled children, to those who lack support, as well as to the elderly in their residence centres.

It adds that the First Lady returns, far away from the spotlights and without any advance notice, to places she visited previously to make sure that the decisions and recommendations had been put into effect and that assistance granted to need persons had been actually distributed.

The magazine also takes interest in other areas that capture Mrs. Leila Ben Ali’s attention, such as women’s economic, cultural and sports events, underlining that she does not spare any effort to chair several of these gatherings, seizing these opportunities to arouse Tunisian women’s awareness of their duties and responsibilities in enhancing the nation’s comprehensive development process and never missing any occasion to highlight Tunisian women’s active participation and consolidation of their rights. “Fairuz” magazine underscores by Mrs. Leila Ben Ali’s efforts to promote Arab women’s status, writing that she had reiterated at the first Congress of Arab Women, held in 2008, the Tunisian conviction that no reform is possible in a society that marginalises women. The First Lady, it adds, addressed this same issue by analysing the situation of Arab women at the opening of the Arab Forum on Women and Politics, held in Tunis in 2001, saying that the lack of a daring and clear vision on women’s situation in Arab communities represented the major stumbling block, throughout the whole last century, hampering an overall revival.

The magazine concludes that this multidimensional effort exerted by Mrs. Leila Ben Ali, at the national, Arab and international levels, stems from her deep conviction that humanity, as it is currently going through changes, does not allow women to remain on the outskirts of society and to contribute to its progress and prosperity, for peoples’ present and their future can only be built by means of shared efforts among women and men in all spheres of life.