“The Story of Makanuna” Poem

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Cover image: Girls team training in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Supported by ‘Football for a New Tomorrow (FANT)’. Credit: Sticker, 2023
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Published: Nov 6, 2024
DOI: https://doi.org/10.32891/jps.v9i2.1825
Keywords:
Historic Cairo Makanuna urban regeneration waste upcycling youth-led movement

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Malak Alaa Eldeen Abbas
Makanuna initiative
Henry Spencer
Makanuna initiative
Hadeer Saeed Dahab
Makanuna initiative

Abstract

"Welcome to 'Makanuna', our place … home of our inner spirit
 A trove of things crafted by our hands … is waiting for you to find inside this space."  Malak Alaa Eldeen, 2023


Makanuna Al-Khalifa was a participatory placemaking project empowering adolescents in al-Khalifa  neighbourhood in historic Cairo to redesign their local public spaces. Through 2021-2022 workshops, around 20 youth aged 13-18, including Malak Alaa Aldeen, upcycled solid and organic waste into outdoor furniture, games, and compost for al-Khalifa Park. A key output was Malak’s poem “The Story of Makanuna” with illustrations by her sister Fatma Alaa Eldeen, also a workshop participant. In vivid verses, the 17-year-old welcomes readers to “Makanuna” - Arabic for “Our Space” - home to their creativity and handcrafted items. She describes making a gazebo “formed from three triangles” of repurposed plastic bottles and rope, illuminated to resemble “a rainbow”, delighting all who see it. Inspired, they crafted five more lighting units “with bold colours and innocent hands.”The poem conveys their determined spirit driving this unique space’s creation through hard work “from our plans.” Malak radiates pride in resourceful designs like a recycling bin filled with bottles containing natural materials from the park. Her closing words capture their ownership: “Here is our place and our story. So, what do you think of our idea in all its glory?”Empowering youth to transform underutilized areas fostered creativity, environmental stewardship and belonging. Building on this, Malak, Fatma and other core team members launched “Makanuna Initiative” to pursue placemaking further. Malak now voices this youth-led initiative’s junior team, aiming to inspire wider involvement. Malak’s poem and Fatma’s illustrations powerfully capture their sustainable accomplishments. This highlights the initiative’s origins in the Al-Khalifa workshops through adolescent participants who helped catalyse Makanuna’s growth from a local project into a youth-led movement.

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How to Cite
Abbas, M. A. E., Spencer, H. and Dahab, H. S. (2024) “‘The Story of Makanuna’ Poem”, The Journal of Public Space, 9(2), pp. 259–264. doi: 10.32891/jps.v9i2.1825.
Issue
Vol. 9 No. 2 (2024): Young Gamechangers
Section
Creative Content
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Author Biographies

Malak Alaa Eldeen Abbas, Makanuna initiative

Malak Alaa, an 18-year-old first-year student at Al-Azhar University's Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty, is a rising poet and community activist from Cairo's historic al-Khalifa neighborhood. Her journey in community engagement began in 2017 with Athar Lina's heritage education activities, leading to her participation in the Makanuna al-Khalifa workshops in 2022. Inspired by this experience, Malak joined the junior founding team of the Maknuna Initiative in 2023. Known as the "voice of Makanuna," she uses poetry to highlight community milestones and inspire youth engagement in placemaking. Malak's talent gained recognition when her poem "Your Organic Waste is a Compost," inspired by her Makanuna experience, was published in Rowayat magazine's Young Readers section at age 17. This publication, featuring illustrations by her sister Fatma Alaa, marked a significant milestone in Malak's poetic journey, showcasing her ability to transform urban development experiences into powerful verses

Henry Spencer, Makanuna initiative

Henry Spencer holds a BA (hons) Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, King’s College at University of Cambridge. He is a MPhil Candidate Politics and International Studies, King’s College at University of Cambridge. He is a Researcher at Makanuna in Cairo, Egypt.

Hadeer Saeed Dahab, Makanuna initiative

Hadeer S. Dahab is a Nubian Egyptian Community Architect, Cultural Heritage Manager, and Founder of Makanuna - a dynamic youth-led placemaking initiative that cultivates child and youth placemakers, empowering them to collectively reimagine public spaces and shape the built environment. With ten years of experience working across the cross-cutting fields of Cultural Management, Heritage Development, Architecture and Urban Design, Heritage Education, capacity building, youth development, Heritage Conservation and Safeguarding, Urban Management, and Community Development. Throughout these years, Dahab has worked with various organizations as an Architect, Researcher, and Cultural Heritage Manager, including Built Environment Collective| Megawra, UNESCO Regional Office for Egypt, Sudan and Libya, The Dutch Embassy, The British Museum, and the Arab Academy for Science, Technology & Maritime Transport. Passionate about building the capacity of communities through participatory design approaches and planning processes, Dahab believes in empowering people to be their own solution. She is committed to developing and maintaining a strong academic foundation to consolidate and sustain a professional career that serves the development of her local community. Dahab obtained a Master's degree in Cultural Heritage Management from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne in 2014, followed by a Master of Science in Architecture from Cairo University in 2018.

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