Reconstuction underway in battered Lebanon

-12/11/06

Scan the faces of children gather


Reconstuction underway in battered Lebanon

-12/11/06

Scan the faces of children gathered for a break outside Souane Elementary School and you see that life is slowly returning after the trauma of the 34-day Israeli-Hezbollah conflict that left Lebanese villages bombed, roads destroyed and thousands injured and dead – writes Toya Richards Hill from
Souane, Lebanon, for Ecumenical News International.

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, noting that the average budgeted for the schools is 20,000 US dollars.

International aid organizations and church development groups have had scrambled to try and restore a swathe of Lebanon that was flattened in war that started in August and they have had their work cut out in helping the people restore more normality to their lives.

All of the windows at the Souane school were broken, and there is shrapnel everywhere, said Hamra. Yet the school is open again with the help of Orthodox church charities and ACT and 13,000 US dollars in repairs, rewiring, sanitary work, painting and other maintenance.

Today the children “are doing OK. They are singing, even when they hear aircraft,” kindergarten teacher Oussama Mzanniar said on 2 November.

Souane is one of 23 schools that the IOCC and ACT are committed to restoring in four districts in South Lebanon – Marjeyoun, Hasbayya, Bint Jbeil and Tyre – with funding from the US government.

The Middle East Council of Churches’ (MECC) Inter-Church Network for Development and Relief in Lebanon is engaged in distributing food, blankets, hygiene kits, cooking utensils, heaters, and other relief supplies and repairing schools.

With the support of Norwegian Church Aid (NCA), the 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. The Church of Sweden is providing psychosocial rehabilitation, and DanChurchAid, from Denmark is clearing mines and unexploded ammunition.

Ten-year-old Hussein Sultan was injured when an unexploded bomb went off while he and his friends played near a home in the Souane area that was destroyed in the fighting. He survived, although one of his friends was not as lucky. And though he spent a number of days hospitalised and being treated for metal shrapnel in his lungs, he is now back with the other children at Souane Elementary School.

While there is improvement, there is still considerable work left to do, particularly in terms of psychological healing in areas closest to where the fighting took place. Many residents 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 Orthodox aid group is repairing close to the Israel-Lebanon border, where some of the most intense fighting occurred. “They are not feeling safe…They have a strong fear.”

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.

[With acknowledgements to ENI. Ecumenical News International is jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and the Conference of European Churches]


Reconstuction underway in battered Lebanon

-12/11/06

Scan the faces of children gathered for a break outside Souane Elementary School and you see that life is slowly returning after the trauma of the 34-day Israeli-Hezbollah conflict that left Lebanese villages bombed, roads destroyed and thousands injured and dead – writes Toya Richards Hill from
Souane, Lebanon, for Ecumenical News International.

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, noting that the average budgeted for the schools is 20,000 US dollars.

International aid organizations and church development groups have had scrambled to try and restore a swathe of Lebanon that was flattened in war that started in August and they have had their work cut out in helping the people restore more normality to their lives.

All of the windows at the Souane school were broken, and there is shrapnel everywhere, said Hamra. Yet the school is open again with the help of Orthodox church charities and ACT and 13,000 US dollars in repairs, rewiring, sanitary work, painting and other maintenance.

Today the children “are doing OK. They are singing, even when they hear aircraft,” kindergarten teacher Oussama Mzanniar said on 2 November.

Souane is one of 23 schools that the IOCC and ACT are committed to restoring in four districts in South Lebanon – Marjeyoun, Hasbayya, Bint Jbeil and Tyre – with funding from the US government.

The Middle East Council of Churches’ (MECC) Inter-Church Network for Development and Relief in Lebanon is engaged in distributing food, blankets, hygiene kits, cooking utensils, heaters, and other relief supplies and repairing schools.

With the support of Norwegian Church Aid (NCA), the 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. The Church of Sweden is providing psychosocial rehabilitation, and DanChurchAid, from Denmark is clearing mines and unexploded ammunition.

Ten-year-old Hussein Sultan was injured when an unexploded bomb went off while he and his friends played near a home in the Souane area that was destroyed in the fighting. He survived, although one of his friends was not as lucky. And though he spent a number of days hospitalised and being treated for metal shrapnel in his lungs, he is now back with the other children at Souane Elementary School.

While there is improvement, there is still considerable work left to do, particularly in terms of psychological healing in areas closest to where the fighting took place. Many residents 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 Orthodox aid group is repairing close to the Israel-Lebanon border, where some of the most intense fighting occurred. “They are not feeling safe…They have a strong fear.”

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.

[With acknowledgements to ENI. Ecumenical News International is jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and the Conference of European Churches]