Afīfah Fandī Sa’b Biography
ʻAfīfah Fandī Sa’b (Arabic: عفيفة فندي صعب, 1900-1986), a pioneering Lebanese journalist, was born in Shuwayfat and attended the English School of Beirut and the National School of Shuwayfat. In 1919, Afifah published the monthly magazine, al-Khidr (Arabic: الخدر) in Lebanon, a scientific and literary women’s periodical. She wrote articles in several newspapers like al-Muqtaṭaf (Arabic: المقتطف) and Ṣawt al-mar’ah (Arabic: صوت المرأة) as well. Her writings focused on social, religious and literary issues that concerned women, especially the Druze women.
Sa’b was an active member in women’s societies and associations, and she contributed in several books. Afifah was always in contact with the Druze communities abroad. With the assistance of her sisters, Afifah established al-Sirat school (Arabic: الصراط) in Aley in 1925, which still exists today.
She spent most of her life in that school, raising generations of girls, as mainstays of the future and of women's renaissance in the East. Afifah received the Lebanese Order of Merit in 1958.
Sources
- Ashour, Radwa, Ferial J. Ghazoul, & Hasna Reda-Mekdashi (eds.). Arab women writers: a critical reference guide, 1873-1999. Cairo, Egypt: American University in Cairo Press, c2008.
- البعيني، نجيب. صحافيات لبنانيات رائدات وأديبات مبدعات. بيروت : نوفل، 2007.
- "عفيفة صعب تكريمها وفاء لمحطات ادب وصحافة وتربية". في النهار، 28/5/1982، ص 12.