The Hands up Project

Luna, dime la verdad. Moon tell me truth, en español. — The Hands Up Project Para nuestro concurso de poesía de 2023 invitamos a gente joven de todo el mundo a escribir a mano y decorar un poema que tuviese hasta cincuenta palabras inspirados por uno de estos dos dibujos. Se ...

📚✨ Don’t forget — our books are waiting for you!

Grab your copy of Luna Dime la Verdad / Moon Tell Me the Truth 🌙📖 — a beautiful bilingual poetry book that inspires young readers and supports meaningful education.

Get it here:
www.handsupproject.org/shop/luna-di... 💛

🎥✨ Ramadan Classroom Decorations at Dura Basic Girls’ School

Check out this lovely video from Dura Basic Girls’ School showing how the students have decorated their classroom for Ramadan! 🌙🕌💫

📖✨ New session with Miss Hana and her students!

This time, we explored #The_Boy_Who_Cried_Wolf — a story full of lessons and meaningful discussions 🐺

Through interactive activities, teamwork, and creative thinking, students strengthened their language skills.💛

The Lost Art of Letter Writing—and Why It Matters for Young Learners — The Hands Up Project By Safa, Volunteer Coordinator In language learning, writing is often viewed as a daunting, even dull, skill. Drawing on my own experience as a teacher from Gaza, I know how little attention it can r...

📣 New blog by Safa, our Volunteer Coordinator!

The Lost Art of Letter Writing explores why letter writing still matters for young learners 📝✨

Read here:
www.handsupproject.org/blog-hup/the...

🎨✨ Daily update from Nada – #ArtFromRubble

Because barriers don’t cancel participation, and distance doesn’t stop creativity ❤️‍🩹🌍

As part of Art From Rubble (sponsored by The Hands Up Project 💫), our dear student Ru joined once again — this time from New Mexico with his mother Atenea 🇲🇽🇵🇸

📖✨ A wonderful new session with Miss Hana and her students!

This time, we explored #The_Greedy_Dog story, focusing especially on building new vocabulary in fun and interactive ways 💙

Learning, teamwork, and lots of energy filled the session — and we’ll continue the rest of the story next time! 🐶📚💫

✨ New update from Nada – Art From Rubble 🎨💔

As part of the Art From Rubble project, Nada Rajab led a special Ramadan session with children in Gaza’s Old Town. Originally planned at the historic Great Omari Mosque, the activity was moved due to structural damage after repeated strikes in 2023.

🦁🐁 The Lion and the Mouse

A powerful story turned into a dynamic, interactive session with Mr. Mahmoud and his students! ✨

Learning through stories makes language come alive — full of thinking, creativity, and teamwork! 💛📖

Returning to the Stage: My Journey with Welcome to Gaza — The Hands Up Project By Haya Oruq Standing inside El-Jesuit Theater in Cairo as part of the Welcome to Gaza performance was a moment that felt both new and deeply familiar. It was not just another project for me — it ...

New on the Hands Up Project Blog

Returning to the Stage: My Journey with Welcome to Gaza is now live! Haya Oruq shares her personal, heartfelt experience being part of the Welcome to Gaza performance — from student to team member, and everything in between.

👉 www.handsupproject.org/blog-hup/ret...

✨📖 Starting a new #Stories_Reborn Club with a wonderful new group of students in Gaza!

We began our journey with the story of The Ant 🐜 and the Grasshopper 🦗
A beautiful, engaging session with Miss Hana and her amazing students — where stories come back to life and learning feels joyful 💛

🌙✨ Ramadan at Cairo Space ✨🌙

Our children and students at the Hands Up Cairo Space are welcoming Ramadan with joy and creativity — decorating the classrooms, adding beautiful Ramadan touches, and celebrating together as one family. 💛

Ramadan Mubarak from all of us at Cairo Space 🤍

✨ New blog by Wendy!

From Totnes to Cairo: A Quaker Meeting of Hope reflects on a moving Zoom exchange between supporters in Totnes and young people from Gaza now learning in Cairo — poems, laughter, and powerful connection across continents. 💫

Read here: www.handsupproject.org/blog-hup/fro...

🌙✨ Ramadan Mubarak from all of us at the Hands Up Project! ✨🌙

May Ramadan bring you peace, mercy, strength, and renewed hope, along with blessings for your loved ones. 🤍

With heartfelt wishes,
The Hands Up Project Team

From Cairo, With Deep Thanks — The Hands Up Project By Dr. Sulaiman Coordinator of Cairo Space, The Hands Up Project – Egypt As the Coordinator of Cairo Space for The Hands Up Project in Egypt, I have the privilege of witnessing the impact that dedi...

New on the Hands Up Project Blog!

From Cairo, With Deep Thanks — Dr. Sulaiman M. Ewaida reflects on the meaningful time spent with Nick Bilbrough, celebrating the impact of his dedication, kindness, and inspiration on Cairo Space and our students. 💛✨

👉 www.handsupproject.org/blog-hup/fro...

✨ A beautiful day of learning and imagination!

Today’s session was inspired by the story of Cinderella 👑📖

As always, we had a magnificent time with Miss Hana and her wonderful students — learning, laughing, and growing together 💛

Make your own game for language learning — The Hands Up Project More than twenty years ago, when my kids were still very young, we got a visit from some old friends of mine from Denmark. They brought a memory game with them as a gift for my family. The game was ca...

📣 New on the Hands Up Project Blog!

Make Your Own Game — Nick shares a simple, creative activity that turns learning into play, sparks imagination, and puts students in the driver’s seat of their own learning experience. 🎲✨

👉 www.handsupproject.org/blog-hup/mak...

✨ When learning meets creativity… Hope is born.

At Sanabel School in Gaza, Miss Majd and her students took part in inspiring Hands Up Project activities built around storytelling and interactive drama. 🎭📖

Three Hours of Joy: Life with Our Youngest Learners — The Hands Up Project Hello, I'm Doaa, a basic education teacher at Hands Up Project in Cairo. I'll take you with me on a little journey to tell you about the most beautiful times and activities I spend with my wonderful s...

🌟 New on the Hands Up Project Blog!

Three Hours of Joy: Life with Our Youngest Learners — Duaa, our foundation teacher, shares a heartwarming look into a day with her class of 4–to 7–year–olds
👉 www.handsupproject.org/blog-hup/thr...

A Safe Space to Be Heard: Psychological Support in Action — The Hands Up Project By Duaa – Art Therapy Teacher In a world burdened with difficult experiences, inclusion becomes a vital space for growth and recovery. Through our support sessions, we strive to provide a safe enviro...

📣 New on the Hands Up Project Blog!

“A Safe Space to Be Heard: Psychological Support in Action” explores how our psychological support sessions help children express themselves, heal through art, play, writing, and shared experiences. ❤️‍🩹✨

👉 www.handsupproject.org/blog-hup/a-s...

In our own write — The Hands Up Project Anyone who has been teaching a language for a long time is sure to have lots of staple activities which they keep coming back to because they know that they work.

New blog: In Our Own Write by Nick Bilbrough

After years of teaching languages around the world, one activity always stands out — the dialogue notebook.

Read more:
www.handsupproject.org/blog-hup/in-...

🇮🇹💛 A beautiful message of solidarity

We’ve received a heartfelt message from the students of Class 3A, Scuola Media Patrizi in Recanati, Italy, dedicated to all the children at the Hands Up Project.

Moments like these remind us that connection, kindness, and friendship can cross all borders.

Finding Healing Through Music: First Steps at The Hands Up Project — The Hands Up Project On my way to the first meeting with the children in The Hands Up Project, I spent the entire two-hour journey thinking about what the first session would be like. I wondered about their level of psych...

Finding Healing Through Music: First Steps at The Hands Up Project shares how music therapy is creating a safe space for children affected by war to express, heal, and rebuild. 🎶❤️

Read here:
www.handsupproject.org/blog-hup/fin...

💛 Support the school:
www.justgiving.com/page/peter-o...

🎈✨ Our brilliant student Marah captured a beautiful video from a very special day at Cairo Space.

Red Noses for Palestine and Emergency Smile brought an incredible show to our children at the Hands Up Project school — full of laughter, joy, and unforgettable moments ❤️🤡

Look up and speak to the world! — The Hands Up Project For more than 10 years now, The Hands up Project has been inviting young Palestinians to present themselves through Zoom to other young people around the world, and to our team of volunteers in multip...

'Look up and speak to the world!' New blog post about how to support children in communicating effectively in Zoom sessions.

www.handsupproject.org/blog-hup/loo...

On Sunday, Nick also presented copies of "From Dust We Rise" to our young poets, Islam & Alaa, whose writing appears in the book 🤍📖 www.handsupproject.org/shop/from-dust-we-rise

At our Cairo Space, we’ve started something new — public speaking exam training for our learners 🎤✨

On Sunday, Nick also presented copies of From Dust We Rise to our young poets Islam & Alaa, whose writing appears in the book 🤍📖 www.handsupproject.org/shop/from-du...

Daily update from Nada | Art from Rubble 🎨🏚️
I believe art isn’t limited to colors alone.
Through Art from Rubble, I held a warm, love-filled therapeutic session with my creative students, aged 7–18 👩‍🎨🧑‍🎨

⚠️ Please browse the artworks with their descriptions in both Arabic and English.

✨ Marah, one of our brilliant Cairo students, shared this beautiful video 🤍
She described the day with Nick and the Hands Up Project as one of the happiest she’s had in a long time — full of laughter, rides, screams, and unforgettable joy.

Thank you, Nick, for making it so special 🌿

Two unforgettable nights in Cairo ✨
Welcome to Gaza was powerful, moving, and met with an incredible audience response.
Huge thanks to Nick, Raeda Ghazala, our amazing actresses (Rawan, Hala, Hala, Hala & Shaza), and the whole team 🤍
Want to host the show? Get in touch. info@handsupproject.org

Our poetry competition applications are now closed!

Our judges will now be carefully reviewing all the amazing submissions. We will be in touch with everyone very soon.
Stay tuned for the next steps, and thank you for making this competition so special!