Cairo Children’s Hub
In January 2025, the PHRC established the Children’s Hub in Cairo, providing a dedicated space for Palestinian children to reclaim their basic rights through creative arts and play, guided by mental health professionals.
This initiative was created in response to the genocide in Gaza, which has left thousands of young people who fled to Egypt with their families without access to educational and recreational spaces.
The Children’s Hub offers therapeutic activities that include art, dance, theatre, and storytelling. These long-term interventions help children heal from trauma while building routine, structure, and social connections. By engaging in creative expression, children can reclaim their sense of self and begin to process the impact of their experiences.
Background
Over half a million Palestinian children from Gaza have lost access to education due to the destruction of schools. By May 2024, an estimated 100,000 Palestinians had fled to Egypt, 15,000 of whom were primary school-aged children, who remain without access to schooling due to bureaucratic barriers. Without access to safe spaces for learning and play, these children face significant risks to their mental and emotional health.
Though some Palestinian families have escaped the immediate danger posed by the genocide in Gaza, they live in precarious conditions in Egypt, facing poverty, social exclusion, and a lack of official recognition by the UN refugee agency. Many of these families reside in areas with no access to essential support services for children.
The Cairo Children’s Hub is a direct response to these needs, providing a safe, supportive environment for healing and growth.
Our Vision & Mission
Our vision is to help children carry their lives forward in a healthy, and independent way. Our mission is to provide Palestinian children with mental health support and trauma relief through creative arts. By combining artistic expression with trauma-informed practices, we give children the tools they need to process their emotions and reclaim their sense of worth.
We prioritise meaningful, long-term intervention, ensuring every child feels seen, heard, and supported. Our approach centers on trust, protection, and creating a safe space for children to heal. We work closely with families, offering a community-oriented solution that fosters stability and helps children rebuild their confidence.
Our Approach
Our model integrates visual and performing arts with trauma-informed pedagogy, creating an environment of belonging, routine, and self-expression. Professional artists and mental health specialists collaborate to design programs that support both emotional sustainability for children and facilitators. All activities are designed to provide emotional healing and are supervised by trained professionals, with mental health support available on-site. Our two-therapist system ensures that emotional exhaustion is avoided, and every child’s unique needs are addressed with care.
The Cairo Children’s Hub is more than just a place for play - it is a crucial intervention for Palestinian children to heal, grow, and rebuild their futures. Through creative arts, structured support, and professional care, we help these children reclaim their childhood and their right to thrive, supporting them as they regain agency over their lives, now and in the future.
Partners
This project is in joint partnership with Timbuktu in the Valley, a South Africa based learning center that has been running directed and self-directed programs for children and young people since 2018. It has previously set up an emergency learning hub for children during the Covid 19 Pandemic.
Support the project:
Transfer directly to our PHRC account:
St Palestine Humanitarian Response Center
BUNQ Bank
IBAN: NL75 BUNQ 2123 3700 37
BIC: BUNQNL2A
Address: Naritaweg 131-133, 1043BS Amsterdam, Netherlands