A New Space, A New Story: The Hands Up Cairo Space

In this blog, our Hands Up Cairo Space Manager, Rozan El Saqa, takes us behind the scenes of The Hands Up Space in Cairo, sharing its journey, the memories made in its original home, and the experience of moving into a new space.

It has been a busy week. We started packing all our school’s belongings, getting ready to move to somewhere new.

It is strange how packing and moving can feel both heartbreaking and exciting at the same time. As we put things into boxes, we find ourselves recalling the memories attached to every little piece that once belonged to our school.

Look at this ship! Mohammed spent weeks making it for our exhibition!

And look at these beautiful poems hanging on the wall. I used to stare at them every morning when I arrived at our space before anyone else.

And the books… They have witnessed every hand that has touched them, every curious mind that has opened them, and every student who has searched for knowledge through their pages.

The tables, the chairs, and even the walls seem to be sitting there, telling stories. Stories of a great school that started here, of children’s laughter, and of every little soul that grew and spent a part of their childhood within these walls.

The Hands Up Cairo Space.

But nothing stays the same forever.

It is time to start a new story. It is time to move, to fly, perhaps even to the moon!

 Our little space needed a change. We needed somewhere new, somewhere that could inspire us to become new versions of ourselves. So, we decided to take our school somewhere else, to find a new place where its once lifeless walls could come alive again with our students’ poems, amazing drawings, and all the little achievements we celebrate every day.

 And it happened!

 We moved to our new space.

And it is amazing how quickly our students brought it to life. With their sweet smiles as they walk through the door every morning and say, “Good morning!” With their pride when they get full marks. And with their laughter when they receive a little gift to celebrate a big achievement.

Almost immediately, we gave this lifeless place colours, warmth, and a story to tell. A story about students who keep fighting for their dreams, fighting with a flower, a smile, and a pen!

I started by introducing a new rule: We have to clean our space together!

Honestly, I was a little stressed. I imagined that the students would find this boring and would not want to do it every day. But I was amazed by their enthusiasm. They were eager to clean every corner of their new space, as if it had been a piece of their little hearts all along.

 And that was when I realised something beautiful.

They had already fallen in love with this place. They were not simply cleaning a new space; they were taking care of their school. They were making it theirs.

And just like that, our new space became our school again.

Perhaps a school is never really about its walls, its tables, its chairs, or even its books. Perhaps it is about the people who fill it with life, the memories they create, and the love they leave behind.

 We may have packed everything into boxes and moved to a different place, but we never packed away what truly made The Hands Up Cairo Space special.

 We carried it with us.

 And now, we are ready to write a new story.