"This guide has succeeded where some international bodies like UNICEF had failed," Al-Hayek told IOL team members.

BEIRUT – IslamOnline.net's psychological guide to help war-scared survivors has won the trust of the Lebanese people for taking into consideration their cultural sensitivities, the Lebanese Ministry of Education has said.

"This guide has succeeded where some international bodies like UNICEF had failed, which is taking into account the culture of the Lebanese people," Jean Al-Hayek, the director of the ministry's Guidance Department, told a visiting IOL team.

Hayik said children of poor families have taken the brunt of the war.

"We must join forces and give priority to these children whose families can't afford going to psychiatrists," he added.

The guide teaches the unspecialized how to deal with people forced to evacuate their homes because of war or natural catastrophes.

It also explains how to deal with psychologically-wounded children.

No less than one million Lebanese, mostly women and children, fled their homes in south Lebanon and southern Beirut during the month-long Israeli war.

Almost half of the estimated 1,300 civilians killed in the Israeli onslaught were children.

Children also make up one third of those wounded in random Israeli bombardment, according to a count by Britain's The Independent newspaper.

Initiative

The IOL's team of psychiatrists and sociologists took their humanitarian mission to war-battered south Lebanon on August 19.

Last week they trained a group of Lebanese teachers in how to deal with victimized school children as the new academic year is knocking at the door.

They also trained 107 Palestinians from refugee camps in Lebanese villages and cities who have given shelter to hundreds of displaced Lebanese during the war.

On Tuesday, August 27, the experts met with the Mahdi Boy Scouts, a Hizbullah group of young volunteers, who played a key role in aid rescue efforts.

Venting their anger, the boy scouts shared with the team their war experience and heart-breaking stories.

The IOL team has so far trained 200 people, including teachers, volunteers and activists, from up to eight Lebanese NGOs.

The war might be over but Israel is leaving behind a lethal legacy after having carpeted the south with thousands of unexploded cluster bombs.

The innocuous looking black canisters, barely larger than a torch battery, have claimed many lives, mostly children, since the end of hostilities on August 14.