The Hands up Project

Each week sparks new creativity and inspiration! 🔥

This time, Miss Majd and her students in Gaza explored “Juha and the Donkey” through fun, thoughtful, and creative activities — from proverb connections and storytelling to singing, hashtag challenges, and even modern Juha twists! 🎭🐴✨

🌧️ Welcome Winter! ☁️💦

Batool and her students in Gaza celebrated the arrival of winter through creative, interactive activities that beautifully expressed the season’s spirit. The session combined learning with fun — building language skills, confidence, and teamwork in a warm, joyful atmosphere. ❄️💙

🎨 Art from the Rubble – Daily Update

Today’s activity, “The Amusement City,” brought so much joy.
The students collected iron wires, a wooden board, and even satin fabric from the rubble — then shaped and painted them into a beautiful amusement park scene.

A beautiful day at the HUP Cairo School 💫

Grateful for everyone who supported us over the past year — a . ❤️

Special thanks to Nick and Donna for their constant support, to Dr. Suliman for leading the school with such care, and to all our wonderful teachers and students who make it all possible. 🌿

We’re going live on Facebook this Saturday! 🎙️✨

Young Palestinian poets from the Hands Up Project & SOAS University will share their voices and dreams in a special online poetry gathering.

📅 Nov 15 — 2PM UK / 4PM Palestine
📍 Live on Facebook

🎨 Daily update from Nada — Art from the Rubble

I revisited the UNRWA shelter where I created my first artwork two years ago with just a pencil. I told the children about our project, and by the end, they built tall towers from stones — hope rising from the rubble. 💫

A beautiful ceramic sculpture by local artist Elena Buran, inspired by the poem on page 49 of Moon by Remas Mohamed Zouraba 🌙
The artwork brings Remas’s words to life — her name and lines from the poem form part of the sculpture’s background, connecting art and poetry in a powerful way. 🎨✨

🎉🎂 A special day at our Cairo school!

Today, our students and teachers came together to celebrate Ms. Doaa’s birthday with lots of love, laughter, and sweet moments. 💐✨

Thank you, Ms. Doaa, for your kindness, creativity, and all the joy you bring to the children every day. 💛

Check out the trailer for our new documentary film From Gaza we speak Please get in touch if you'd like to arrange a screening in your school, university, cultural centre etc. the film is 50 minutes long and can be followed by a live link to some of the original creators of the plays from Gaza.

🎨 Art from Rubble — Daily Update 🌿

Today, Nada and her group brought to life an activity called “Our Beautiful City.” 🏙️✨

The children imagined Gaza as a peaceful, colorful place — clear skies, no missiles, no suffering — and painted their dreams on nylon sheets used as tent walls in the camp. 🎨✂️

📝✨ A Creative Day at the Hands Up School in Cairo!

Our talented students wrote beautiful poems in both English and Arabic with Miss Rania and Afnan — expressing their thoughts, dreams, and feelings through powerful words.

Meanwhile, Miss Majd and Doaa led fun and engaging activities with the kids

📚 If You Were a Stories Alive Character… Which One Would You Be? ✨

That was the theme of our first session back in North Gaza! 💕

They also had fun with:
🧑‍🦼 The Chairs Game
🤾 Catch and Pick
🎨 Cut and Colour

A wonderful, creative day with Miss Hana and her students in Gaza! 💫

🎨 Art from Rubble | Daily Update 🌿

Nada led a powerful collaborative session between her students in the camp east of Deir al-Balah and teacher Sahar’s students in western Gaza. 💛

🥩🕵️ Juha and the Meat Story! 🎭✨

This week, Miss Majd and her amazing students in Gaza had so much fun diving into the story of Juha and the Meat!

Through creative activities and storytelling, the students became little detectives — and finally discovered who the meat eater was! 😄🔍

🎭 The cast has arrived in London! 🇵🇸🇬🇧

Today, we’re spending the day in rehearsals — getting ready for tomorrow’s performance at the Voices of Palestine Festival at Kings Place. 🌿✨

🎟️ Grab yours here: kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/voices-of-palestine-festival-celebrating-palestinian-culture-heritage

🎨 Art from Rubble | Daily Update with Nada 💕

Today’s activity was one of the most heartfelt yet. The students painted on cardboard boxes — the same ones they collect daily to use as firewood. 🏚📦

It was an activity filled with emotions and unspoken dreams.

In Peterborough Cathedral today, unexpectedly, I found heart-wrenching poetry by children from Gaza. Part of a project by (I think) @handsupproject.bsky.social. One is about (our) silence being worse than war so i thought I'd share, even tho' people may know about this @michaelrosenyes.bsky.social

❄️✨ A Magical Day at the Hands Up School in Cairo! ✨❄️

In this lovely video, Ms. Afnan asks our students to share their thoughts about their visit to Sky Egypt – the Snow City! ⛄️💙

🎨 Art from Rubble | Faces We Miss 🖤

They used cardboard boxes collected from the rubble — once meant for firewood — now transformed into powerful memories and expressions of love and resilience. 🌿

💫 A New Incredible Session for the HOPE CLUB! 💫

We’re so happy to welcome new members to the club!
The students had a wonderful time:
🌼 Talking about their group
🌼 Playing Run and Remember
🌼 Drawing their dreams with Miss Wafaa and her amazing students in Gaza 💕

💫 A New Incredible Session for the HOPE CLUB! 💫

We’re so happy to welcome new members to the club!
The students had a wonderful time:
🌼 Talking about their group
🌼 Playing Run and Remember
🌼 Drawing their dreams with Miss Wafaa and her amazing students in Gaza 💕

🎨 Art from Rubble – Daily Update

Recently, Nada created three paintings inspired by activities she carried out with her students inside the camp. Each artwork reflects moments of creativity, strength, and connection. 💕

💫 Art from Rubble – Daily Update

Yesterday’s activity, Window of Hope, combined storytelling and mural painting on walls once damaged by airstrikes.
Mrs Sahar shared the story Noss Nassees, and students brought its characters to life through art — showing how hope is born from pain. 🌿💛

YouTube video by The hands up project WELCOME TO GAZA’

🎬✨ Our trailer is live!
Watch it here 👉 www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhhw...

We’re now less than a week away from our performance of Welcome to Gaza at the Voices of Palestine Festival at Kings Place, London! 🇵🇸💫

🎟️ Get your tickets here:
👉 www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/voi...

🎨 Art from the Rubble – Daily Update 💛

Today’s Activity: Adding a Touch of Comfort and Safety! 🌿✨

The students painted on cardboard boxes 📦, creating images of cactus plants, books, and picture frames — symbols that reminded them of their former homes destroyed in northern Gaza.

🔺🟣 Learning Shapes in Our Cairo School! 🟢🟦

Our young learners had so much fun discovering shapes today! From circles and squares to triangles and hearts — they learned through games, drawing, and hands-on activities. ✏️💛

From under the Brazilian moon — The Hands Up Project Escola Padre Reus in Porto Alegre, Brazil is a quite remarkable state school. Yesterday I was invited there to give a talk to 15 -17 year olds, about the Hands up Project’s work with children in Gaz...

New blog post about the great work being done at Padre Reus, public school in Brazil around our "Moon tell me truth" poetry exhibition. Please get in touch if you'd like to do something similar in your context. www.handsupproject.org/blog-hup/fro...

🦁🐭 This Week’s Story: The Lion and the Mouse ☺️

This week, we explored The Lion and the Mouse through a fun and thoughtful debate activity with Miss Majd and her students in Gaza! ⚡💬

Students discussed the story’s message — kindness, strength, and how even the smallest can make a big difference.

🎬✨ From Gaza We Speak — Available Now! 🇵🇸

A powerful new documentary film :
🎭 Original & reimagined plays from Welcome to Gaza
🎤 Interviews with students
🎥 Footage from Nick’s protest & arrest

Interested in screening it at your event or exhibition?
📩 Contact: info@handsupproject.org

🎨 Today’s activity: Faces We Miss 💔👩‍🎨

In today’s session, the children painted the faces of loved ones they’ve lost because of the war — each portrait filled with raw emotion: sadness, joy, anger… capturing how we remember those we miss in both their best and hardest moments. 🕊️💛