The Center for Arab-West Understanding (CAWU) started a Learning Center because it discovered that many African children in Cairo have big learning gaps. They had, thus far, no place to go to.

For Egyptians, there is compulsory education. Syrian refugees are able to make use of the Egyptian school system. Non-Arabic speaking foreign students usually find their ways to private schools in Egypt but their tuition fees can be quite staggering. Many, mostly African, parents in Cairo cannot afford to pay those school fees. Africa Hope Learning Center caters to children up to grade 8 and is at full capacity. Stars refugee school offers education for a Sudanese high school diploma. They have graciously opened their doors for some non-Sudanese children but that becomes hard for children who are not fluent Arabic speakers and who have big learning gaps. Thus non-Arabic speaking children whose parents cannot afford the tuition of private schools are mostly left without any care. Cornelis (Kees) Hulsman wrote an article about this for the Maadi Messenger of November 2018.