"I have to. I try my best to do so."

"My first goal now is to study pharmacy. After that I’ll think of marriage and bring up children. And I’ll give them everything that I’ve been forbidden from it. I didn’t get."

"The children who survived the massacre are playing. They feel that the play is missing something. They’re missing someone; a brother, a friend or a neighbour. When they play, they’re happy and sad at the same time. They know that the playmates are dead."

Hasen, 4 (This brave little boy was initially thought to be dead and brought to the morgue. Fortunately, he woke up.)

"I am fine now. I was only wounded here (points to around his stomach area) and it’s healed now."

Unfortunately, even though the war has ended, the Lebanese and children living around the area are likely to be still in danger. That is because it is estimated that there are over a million unexploded bomblets that litter South Lebanon; these were a result of Israel using cluster bombs in the area during the 2006 war.

Children of Conflict - Afghanistan

This episode focused a lot on the children in an orphanage and street kids. The former were mainly there due to war.

"Fighting is usual in Afghanistan. It’s normal, they fight, they attack each other. And they kill each other."

"Children in other countries have everything. They have good places to live. They have nice houses. They have parks to play in. They have all the facilities in the life. But Afghan children do not have a good place to live. See me and my friends, in this environment that we have to live ok (the place is essentially very rundown with no proper roads or sanitation. There is also plenty of rubble in the area). Look how dirty it is. In other countries, streets are clean and there are nice parks for children to go."

Tell me about life for the children here in the orphanage.

Shabnam, 10

"War has affected us in a way that made our lives horrible and we lost out parents. We became orphans. We do not like war. We have enough of war in Afghanistan."

Majide, 12

"It was war. We were trapped in the house and hungry. My dad said that he would go to the market and find some food for us. When he left the house, he was shot by the Taliban. He died on the spot. My mother found out and she went outside to bring his body back. But she was also shot; so both of them died."

Shabnam, 10

"Everybody was running away, it was war time. My father was killed by the Taliban and my family became so miserable and poor. And that is why my family sent me here. My father was shot in the forehead by the Taliban. They killed him."

Do you remember your father?

"My father was a good man. His name was Mosoul and he had a good life with my mum and we had a good life altogether as a family. When he was killed, we were left all alone. My mother cannot afford to feed me. So she brought me here and now she visits me every week."

Majide, 12

"My father was a good man. He never attack anybody or hurt anyone’s family. He tried to help people as much he could.

War has affected our lives of course. That’s why the children of this country don’t know anything. The Taliban destroyed schools. There were schools and mosques but the Taliban even attack the mosques and burn them. Some people do not want children to be educated.

I remember what my father said to me. He said, I will die one day my son and it will be before you die. But try to study. Try not to attack anybody or hurt anyone. Do not steal and be a good person. Keep praying to God. Keep worshipping him and pray for me after I die."

Sharinaghar, 11

"If there was no war, I will not be here. I will be with my mum and dad. And my dad will have work and he would have brought things for us, corn, flour and bread. And my mum would have cooked for us and I would have stayed with them. I think we would have had a good life."

"I want to become somebody or something in the future. I want to be somebody who will be able represent my father. My father is a light inside me, like a candle. I want to keep that light burning."

Deprived of their family, life for the children in the orphanage is harsh and frugal. But unlike many others across Afghanistan, the children here do have a daily hot meal and a bed to sleep in. By Afghan standards, that makes them the lucky ones.

Tehal, 10

"All this destruction and mess, we just want it removed. We want it back as it used to be before; with all the trees. We want peace in this village; because we always live in fear. And we don’t feel safe in these houses. I swear we heard the sound of rocket and the noise of shooting and everything. We love some peace in this world; especially in Gaza."

What would she say to the politicians of both sides?

"My first word is directed to the Arabs. You talk about saving children and you speak much about children, but you don’t really mean what you say because children do not have any rights here. To Ehud Olmert, the Prime Minister of Israel. I say to him, why do you kill children who are innocent? I think it’s because he and the Israelis are scared of children. This is because they think that children will grow up to be fighters. It’s the opposite. I want to tell him that children aspire to be educated, go to the university, get PhDs. They want an education, they just want an education."

When you become the first female president of Palestine, which I am absolutely sure you’ll going to be, what are the first three things you’re going to do?

"If I’m president and Shah Allah I would first give children all the rights so that they don’t have to live in the sadness and misery that we live in. Second, I would like to remove all this rubbish. I would not leave it the way it is now. I would see that there are municipalities that could clear the mess left behind by the Israelis and third, I’ll build a new country."

Considering that Tehal is just a tender 10 years of age, I think it is pretty remarkable on how analytical she is and how selfless she is.

Rafa, 14

Fatima, 14

"God willing, I would like to be a professor of chemistry at university. That’s if I do not succeed as being a martyr."