'My son wakes up and screams'

Samaheh was just picking up her life again after the death of her husband last year when the Israeli bombs began falling.

"Our house was destroyed, our car, our home, everything," she says. Samaheh was evacuated from southern Lebanon with her two children, aged two and seven, her brothers and her mother, and they now share their living space with 350 other people in a school in the Beirut district of Achrafieh.

"This affects our children in every way," says Samaheh. "They do not sleep, some cannot eat, some wake up crying. They have nightmares - my son wakes up and starts to scream. We notice how the children are aware of what is happening. They hear the explosions and even my small son tells us to find the television, to watch what is happening."

After three weeks in the Karm Al Zetoun centre, the residents are yearning for the return of normal life, and the children's enforced playtime is starting to feel unreal. Now, a priority for relief workers is to focus their attention on something other than the war.

Ali Younes, 15, says: "Before, I used to wake up; I used to wash, I used to eat my breakfast. I used to play on my PlayStation and then I would go to school, or sometimes go to meet my friends and play football in the car park. I just want to go back to school and be normal again. If we're going to school, then maybe we can forget about the war."

Save the Children is helping the Lebanese authorities support the children left homeless by the war, and is working to restore the educational system as soon as possible. The Independent last week joined with the British charity to launch a humanitarian appeal which has so far raised £50,000.

Malak, 10, is hoping that, by the middle of August, it should be possible to resume classes. "School should be here," she says. "What we need is to learn - if it doesn't happen soon, and if it is not organised, children will start to hate school." Sama, a kindergarten teacher, said: "It's good the children play today, they can forget a little while, but their mind is still affected. Talk to them now and you will hear about the war, the ceasefire - it's in the back of their mind. They know too much."

Appeal raises £50,000

The Independent Children of the Middle East appeal in conjunction with Save the Children has now raised £50,000 - almost double last Friday's total of £32,000. Almost half those who have been killed in Lebanon are children. They make up one third of those wounded and about 45 per cent of those displaced. But the children of the Middle East still need our help. Just £1 will provide enough candles and matches for a family; £10 will provide adequate hygiene and £50 will feed a family in the short term. 50p will buy a sports ball and 25p a colouring book. Children still need to be children, despite this war.