One year after the war in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah, much of the country's south continues to struggle as politics and fear hinder the work of rebuilding. Tensions among Lebanon's diverse communities, fear of yet another war and political finger-pointing over delays in the reconstruction are major roadblocks to recovery.

"The work has been difficult because of the fear and distrust that linger," said Najla Chahda, director of Caritas Lebanon's Humanitarian Response Unit. "In addition, in the north we have a new conflict that we are responding to, so the situation remains quite precarious and tense."

Last July's fighting left much of the south of Lebanon and parts of Beirut in ruins. Northern Israel also suffered rocket attacks. The 34-day conflict killed more than 1200 Lebanese and more than 150 Israelis. The war displaced one million Lebanese and 300,000-500,000 Israelis.

In such an environment, Caritas has nevertheless been able to piece back together people's lives. Much of the work has been aimed at reconciling alienated communities. Caritas also has sought to help the neediest, especially those who might not be receiving any other form of support. Caritas helped over 100,000 people during the immediate crisis, or about 10% of the population who had been forced to flee their homes. Caritas delivered food parcels to hundreds of families, mostly in villages in the South and the Bekaa Valley in the country's northeast. In addition, Caritas got supplies to hospitals in Saida and Nabatieh, which had been cut off from outside help. Nearly 18,000 people received fuel to keep warm through the winter. Caritas mobilized a number of mobile health clinics to treat patients during and after the war – more than 12,000 people were treated through March 2007.

Though energies were mostly concentrated on emergency food and relief items in the beginning, the shift was quickly made to ensuring that in the autumn, children went back to school. Caritas supported poor families, especially farmers that had lost a year's harvest, with vouchers to send their children to school.

"Psychologically, it was really important to get these children back in the classroom, so that they could regain to a sense of normality," said Ms. Chahda.

Caritas Lebanon has just finished a program to support impoverished farmers, providing investment, seeds, seedlings and other agricultural inputs to get them back on their feet. In Lebanon, farmers normally take out loans to pay for these at the beginning of the planting season. They pay back the loans with a part of the money they make from the harvest. But many farmers would have been drowning in debt after losing last year's harvest.

The Lebanese authorities estimate that direct economic damage from the war amounts to 2.8 billion dollars. Another 2.2 billion dollars in income was lost. And while the economy was forecast to grow by 5 to 6 percent, instead it shrank by 5 percent.

Please contact Patrick Nicholson on 00390669879725 or 00393346877925 or nicholson@caritas.va for further information