How Olive You Hub Supports Palestinian Refugees in Cairo

Each week, more than 100 Palestinian refugees in Cairo pass through Olive You Hub, a community space that offers psychosocial support, skills development, and a sense of belonging for both children and adults. The centre opened in Nasr City in August 2025, about a year and a half after the initiative began as an emergency response to Palestinians fleeing Israel's genocidal war in Gaza through the Rafah Border Crossing. Many arrived in Egypt without support networks, often having lost everything except for their lives.

In the early stages of the war, organisations like Olive You Hub focused on meeting urgent needs, providing essentials such as food, clothing, and medicine. As displacement stretched from temporary to indefinite, the organisation adapted its work toward longer-term support, helping refugees build sustainable livelihoods and stability while living in exile.

Hafsah Ali, Olive You Hub’s co-founder, first came to Cairo from the UK to help evacuate a friend’s family and support medical evacuation efforts from Gaza. What began as a planned three-week stay in Ismailia, the closest point she could reach to the border, became a permanent move. Ali left her software job and relocated to Cairo to establish Olive You Hub full-time, also stepping away from her role at Hewlett Packard Enterprise over its involvement in technology used by Israel.

Ali founded Olive You Hub with a partner from Gaza, who she did not name to protect their identity—a joint-effort which was key in their commitment to centering Palestinians from Gaza in their work. Now, Olive You Hub is officially registered as a charity in the UK.“The community centre was born out of listening to the needs of the Palestinian community in Cairo over the past two years,” Ali said. She added that the team is mainly Palestinian, led by the two community centre managers, a psychiatrist and an English graduate from Gaza.

When the team asked Palestinians from Gaza what they needed in Cairo, Olive You Hub developed a number of programs to address educational, mental health, and financial concerns.

They run programs like art therapy for children, English classes for all ages, and professional support so that people can make an income outside of donations—whether by starting their own businesses, crafting a CV for the first time, or identifying potential employers.

But most importantly, the community centre is a place for refugees to build back their confidence and improve their psychological well-being. They recently launched the Psychosocial Support Programme for adults, where a doctor and a psychiatrist from Gaza lead workshops on how to manage stress, solve domestic disputes, and cope with trauma.

“If we can support people in this aspect, they can grow into their talents—start a business, find work, apply for education. It’s a basic concept, community, but people have been very isolated, even from their own people,” Ali said.

According to Ali, art therapy sessions has been one of the most impactful activities for children who come into Olive You Hub.

“It gives them an outlet for creative expression they don’t have at home,” Ali said. “Even something as simple as having colors or paper isn’t guaranteed for them. When they come to the centre, they can do this in a safe space with other children—just doing what children should be doing.”

Palestinian children living in Cairo face significant barriers to everyday activities such as attending school, largely due to their legal and residency status in Egypt. In response, the community centre offers a vital space beyond the home, giving children and parents a place to spend time, form friendships, and build connections in the absence of formal schooling and extracurricular programmes.

One of the centre’s regular activities is a weekly football session held every Friday, with around 20 children taking part under the guidance of a professional footballer from Gaza. Olive You Hub views physical movement as central to healing and wellbeing, an approach that extends to adults as well. Ali noted that women and children make up the majority of visitors, as many families arrived in Cairo without male relatives. Mothers are raising their children alone, often while managing mental health challenges and facing limited access to stable income due to the difficulty of securing work permits in Egypt.

The weekly tatreez course—the name for traditional Palestinian embroidery—doubles as a healing circle. Alaa Shaker leads the women in stitching workshops through her business Threads of Hope, one of the many Gazan-run businesses Olive You Hub has partnered with and helped to expand their operations.“We aim to do everything in a dignified way,” Ali said, “which is why we're also helping people turn their talents into income and open their own businesses.”

Olive You Hub offers mentoring and workshops to help Palestinians develop new ideas or grow existing businesses. Through its network of friends and volunteers, the organisation connects their products to markets around the world, ensuring owners receive 100% of the profits from sales.

Olive You Hub also supports emerging businesses like Soha’s Kitchen, Twist and Tie, Yumna’s Accessories, and Tamra, among others that will soon be featured on Olive You Hub Shop—a platform they are launching for Palestinian businesses in Cairo to showcase their talents and stories while selling their products.

Soha’s Kitchen is a community operation that spans generations, one that Olive You Hub helped grow from an idea into a full venture. A mother and her two daughters run the business as the main chefs, while also employing other Palestinian women to help prepare orders for catering and events. Their signature dishes include classic za’atar manakeesh, traditional maqluba, musakhan rolls, and sugary basbousa for dessert.

Another family-run business is Twist and Tie, led by nine women who were separated from their male relatives at the border when all of them were turned back.

“This business was born during a workshop last summer that Olive You led,” Ali said. “Together we turned a simple but beautiful idea into an income stream for this family by nurturing their talent and encouraging them to continue.”

Twist and Tie crafts woven bracelets, gold and silver Palestine-shaped earrings, beaded evening purses, and other wearable art for any occasion.

Yumna’s Accessories is another handmade jewellery business, pioneered by a young woman in her early twenties who arrived from Gaza to Cairo on her own. She crafts Palestine-themed bracelets, crocheted keychains, earrings, and macramé pieces from start to finish, each one carrying a bit of home with it.

The final business is Tamra, created by a mother of four who is raising her children alone. Her signature creation is makthoum, a traditional Palestinian health dish made from date molasses, sesame, olive oil, nuts, seeds, and warm spices that blend into a naturally nutrient-dense paste. In Gaza, it is known as a handmade source of strength and sustained energy.

Olive You Hub is currently looking for organisations and shops that can hire Palestinians or collaborate to showcase and sell their products in cafés, boutiques, or other retail stores—as well as volunteers and facilitators who can run programs at the centre.

You can visit their website to learn more or donate to sustain their grassroots, mutual aid initiative. For any Palestinians hoping to enroll at the centre, gain business support, or join the community, you can contact Olive You Hub through the WhatsApp number listed on their website.