Lili Doss
Social work pioneer
Lili Doss is a social work pioneer. She co-founded the Women’s Association for Health Improvement in 1936, which began its activities as a specialist clinic offering healthcare services to tuberculosis patients and their families. In the interview, Lili talked about her educational and career journey, starting with her school years at the Sacred Heart School, then at the College for Girls in Zamalek, until her school graduation in 1933. At the age of 65, Lili decided to pursue a college education, and attended the American University in Cairo to earn her bachelor’s degree, then a master’s degree in English and Comparative Literature in 1981.
Lili was born in Assiut to a father who worked as a lawyer, and served as the Minister of Agriculture in 1927. She moved to Cairo with her family at the age of six, and attended the Sacred Heart School. Her father later transferred her to the College for Girls, because he wanted his daughter to receive an Egyptian, not a foreign, education. Lili finished school in 1933, with a desire to enter university. Describing this desire as her national commitment, Lili said, “we were truly the daughters of the 1919 Revolution, and we felt a responsibility towards our country. Egypt was gaining its independence, and we had to tackle its pressing issues. We were at my home in Zamalek when we told our teacher that we did not want to wait for Mr. Right and get married. We had a duty to fulfill.” However, her father completely rejected the idea of his daughter enrolling in a university.
Lili started her social work in 1936, when she learned from one of her teachers that Dr. Mahmoud Abaza, the Head of the Pulmonology Department, was worried about the widespread of tuberculosis in Egypt. With her colleagues, Lili began to visit hospitals and underprivileged families. On these visits, she said, “I would never forget our first visit. I lived in the affluent neighborhood of Zamalek, and I did not know anything about being poor other than when our teachers in the French school would ask us to give our chocolate to the poor.” She decided with a group of her colleagues to create an association to serve the poor and underprivileged families. The wife of Dr. Abd al-Maggid Mahmoud, an English lady with deep love for Egypt, joined them as the President of the Women’s Association.
The Association started its work with funds of only eighty piasters, raised by the members to buy fabric for clothes to be given to the poor families during the visit. The headquarters of the Women’s Association was on Dawlat Fadel Street. Lili’s father allowed her to host fundraising events, seminars, and concerts at the family house to collect donations for the Association, but some of her colleagues were skeptical. Lili remarked, “they thought it was merely a drop in the ocean, but I told them that this drop will one day be an ocean.” After two years, the Women’s Association had funds of one thousand Egyptian pounds in its bank account. The media newspapers took interest in the Association, and covered its events and activities, which boosted the amount of donations. In 1945, the members decided to organize a Health Improvement Week, which garnered huge success, and raised funds of almost thirty thousand pounds. As a result, the Women’s Association managed to establish 24 branches in various regions in the country.
The members of the Association had to overcome the challenge posed by the parents who refused to admit their sick children into the clinic. Upon a friend’s advice, the members decided to take over an English military camp on the Fayoum Road to keep the sick children in a separate location. They paid 800 pounds to buy the military camp, which consisted of seven torn down buildings. They also submitted a request to the Minister of Interior to assign some of the prisoners to pave the roads, and he granted them the help needed. Every day, Lili would ride the prison van with the prisoners, to the point that some people thought she was serving a prison sentence but was allowed to spend the night at home because she was the daughter of an ex-minister. Lili recalled, “one day, the housekeeper was very upset because people told her I committed a crime, but owing to my father’s affluence, I was allowed to come back home at the end of the day.”
The relics left behind by the army were used to establish the Women’s Association from the inside, with a capacity for 500 children. As soon as the water, electricity, and utilities were installed, the Association received 30 children. The work continued until the Association transformed into a town, with its own nursery, elementary, preparatory, and secondary schools, along with a retirement home. During wartime in 1956, 1967, and 1973, the Women’s Association played a prominent role reaching out to the towns outside Cairo, donating clothes, and opening sewing centers to provide clothing for the soldiers.
Lili cooperated with the Mabarra Charity Foundation in the fight against cholera in 1947, and recounted the contribution of the civil society organizations in Egypt, saying, “the most important thing that women in social service achieved was establishing the Mabarra Charity. The best women’s organizations at the time were the Mohamed Ali Mabarra, the New Woman, and al-Nour w al-Amal ‘Light and Hope.’ We fought against cholera with the women in Mohamed Ali Mabarra, at a time when the government refused to admit cholera was spreading in Egypt. I did not go to Luxor and Aswan with them, but those who went there proved that cholera was spreading in Egypt, and forced the government to admit the widespread and do something to stop it. The women in these first organizations had a huge impact on us. We, the second generation, are indebted to them.”
At the age of 65, Lili Doss put her work at the Women’s Association on hold for 10 years to pursue her old dream to earn a college degree. She obtained her GCE -an equivalent to the national high-school diploma- and attended the American University in Cairo for a bachelor’s degree, then earned her master’s in English and Comparative Literature in 1981. Upon completing her academic journey, she resumed her work at the Association. Lili was very attentive to the administrative aspect of the organizational work, and the issue of specialization. She explained, “we work with human beings, so we had to have psychology specialists to do the work, and help people become integrated in society to serve the country, instead of ending up resentful for being here, and feeling useless.” One of Lili’s dreams was for the university to establish a social service school inside the Women’s Association for Health Improvement, but that dream never came true. She stated, “I still dream until today. I cannot stop dreaming. This place offers shelter for children, a retirement home for the elderly, and a nursery. Why would not the university establish a social service school here?”
Lili Doss never married, and devoted her life to social work and social service. She practically lived at the Association for Health Improvement until the end, moving between the headquarters of the Association and her home in Garden City. She recounted, “I used to come here two days a week, but two days were not enough, and I got exhausted going back and forth. So, I decided to spend Saturday to Tuesday here, and go back home Wednesday to Friday.” Later in her life, Lili directed all her attention towards the children at the Association, and fought to the very end with the same perseverance, hope, and independence, describing herself as “a disobedient girl…always independent, and not everybody likes that.”