Lebanon: The Rebuilding Begins

Inching his truck down a Beirut boulevard choked with cars, bikes, and pedestrians, a leather-faced old driver named Hassan tries to explain the extraordinary pace of activity in the neighborhood.

"I think," he says with a smile, "the people finally aren't afraid to come out. They are ready to live again."

As the one-month anniversary of the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon approaches, Beirut and the rest of the region are charging toward recovery. Despite a growing UN peacekeeping force, a commitment of $1 billion in aid from the international community, and that strong desire "to live again," huge challenges remain.

Mercy Corps Communications Director Jeremy Barnicle is spending the week in Lebanon looking at the prospects for the area's recovery and reporting on Mercy Corps' role in the long-term reconstruction effort.

From the hard-hit urban enclaves of southern Beirut to the fertile fields of the Bekaa Valley to flattened villages in Lebanon's deep south, Barnicle will feature the final days of the emergency relief phase, the race to get schools opened by early October, the hopes and fears of Lebanese youth, and the role aid groups like Mercy Corps can play in supporting sustained peace and development in war-affected communities across the country.