ACT Dateline
Lebanon 11/06
Material and mental healing get underway in Lebanon
By Toya Richards Hill, ACT International
Souane, Lebanon, November 8, 2006--Scan the faces of children gathered for a break outside Souane Elementary School and you see that life is slowly returning after the traumatic 34-day Israeli-Hezbollah conflict that left Lebanese villages bombed, roads destroyed and thousands injured and dead.
For 20 days students at the public kindergarten-through-sixth-grade school could not use their building because it was "very badly damaged" in the fighting, said Farid Hamra, a construction specialist for International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC), a member of the global alliance Action by Churches Together (ACT) International.
"Most of the schools were hit directly," Hamra said, adding that the average budgeted for the schools is US$20,000. The repair work is being done using contractors obtained through a bidding process carried out via ads placed in local newspapers.
All of the windows were broken, and the school had shrapnel throughout, among other things, Hamra said. Yet with the help of IOCC-ACT and US$13,000 in repairs, including electrical and sanitary work, painting and aluminum maintenance, the school is open again.
Today the children "are doing OK. They are singing, even when they hear airplanes," kindergarten teacher Oussama Mzanniar said on November 2.
Souane is one of 23 schools that IOCC-ACT is committed to restoring in four districts in South Lebanon-Marjeyoun, Hasbayya, Bint Jbeil and Tyre-with funding from the U.S. government. The organization's commitments also include non-food relief supplies to 2,900 vulnerable families and water and sanitation projects in 30 villages.
On a broader scale, IOCC's work is part of a comprehensive relief effort underway by ACT members in the country through an initial appeal aimed at raising US$6.2 million. Currently US$2.8 million has been pledged and received.
In addition to IOCC, the Middle East Council of Churches' (MECC) Inter-Church Network for Development and Relief in Lebanon is distributing food, blankets, hygiene kits, cooking utensils, heaters, and other relief supplies and repairing schools. With the support of Norwegian Church Aid (NCA), MECC is also re-establishing water supplies. Christian Aid, which will join these two ACT members in a forthcoming revision of the ACT appeal, will work with disabled people and provide livelihood assistance to small farmers, craftsmen and shop owners.
Two other ACT members are also working in Lebanon outside of the ACT appeal, but are coordinating with MECC. Church of Sweden is providing psychosocial rehabilitation, and DanChurchAid is clearing mines and unexploded ammunition.
For proof that the relief effort is working, simply look at 10-year-old Hussein Sultan, who was injured when an unexploded bomb went off while he and friends played near a home in the Souane area that was destroyed in the fighting.
Sultan survived, although one of his friends was not as lucky. And though he spent a number of days in the hospital being treated for metal shrapnel in his lungs, he is now back with the other children at Souane Elementary School.
Much is improving, and there are success stories, but at the same time most agree there is still considerable work left to do, particularly in terms of psychological healing in areas closest to where the fighting took place. Many say activities like art, movies and plays will go a long way toward helping the children forget.
The students "are not fully recovered," said Khalil Haider, a principal at Aaitaroun Elementary School, another school that IOCC is repairing very near the Israel-Lebanon border, where some of the most intense fighting occurred. "They are not feeling safeÂ…They have a strong fear."
More psychosocial programs including entertainment and music are needed, stressed Haider, whose school was so badly damaged that it needed US$24,500 in repairs.
"If we can provide a small smile, it will give a lot for a depressed student," he said.
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Toya Richards Hill is a reporter for Presbyterian News Service who has been seconded to the ACT team working in Beirut, Lebanon, by Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (Presbyterian Church [USA]), a member of Action by Churches Together (ACT) International.
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ACT is a global alliance of churches and related agencies working to save lives and support communities in emergencies worldwide.
The ACT Coordinating Office is based with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Switzerland.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
