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And it was her strong-willed character that propelled her to seize the opportunity when it finally came in the form of UNESCO’s IFCD-funded project Empowering Gaza’s youth through theater. Indeed, had it not been for this unique chance, she would have never come to the realization where her true passion lays: in theater acting.

She asserts with enthusiasm. Reham was one of many candidates who applied and successfully selected for the theatre training by the local NGO BASMA Society for Culture and Arts.

Under the aegis of UNESCO, the IFCD provided the necessary support for BASMA to become an inclusive venue where Gaza’s theater artists could freely express themselves. At this NGO, Reham’s drive for theater acting has flourished. As she puts it,

The project that kickstarted Reham’s career as theater actress is just the tip of the iceberg. Indeed, the valuable lessons she learnt have become key assets in her endeavors to pave the way for other actresses in Palestine. She is open about how

Seeing that the project welcomed many students from local universities in the Gaza Strip, Reham gained precious insights from her peers and even built powerful friendship bonds with young fellow female actresses Asmaa Al-Feraá and Basima Masoud, which “continued after the project and until now”.

Moreover, the focus on young rising actors and actresses responded to a key goal of the project: to reinforce the Palestinian Youth Network (PYN). Indeed, the project enlarged the professional horizons of all these junior professionals participating in it. As Reham explains,

And what is even more critical, these useful networking effects resonated beyond theater and reached powerful stakeholders. Reham’s fame as Gaza’s rising theater actress spread across the land, and when Palestine’s Minister of Culture Dr. Atef Abu Seif congratulated her personally, she felt “proud that the UNESCO project, especially the play of the Doll's House, had great success and great resonance in Gaza, the West Bank and abroad”.

Consequently, the role of theater in communities, from offering a venue for freewheeling creativity to enabling professional development of young creators has been reinforced, and access to such cultural expressions has been fostered. By boldly addressing important societal issues that mattered to the local communities, Reham underlines

In this sense, the transformative impact of this project not just on Reham but on Gaza’s communities as well is a very powerful testimony of how the project’s goals were accomplished in overlapping complementarity.

Just as every other evening, Reham busies herself with cooking dinner for her husband and her four children. Preparing for her day starts the night before, and she toils to fulfil her family duties while striving to advance her career. As the sky dresses up in its twilight cloak of dark sprinkles with glittering lights, Reham looks up at the twinkling stars, her eyes glaring with passion. Her ambition is to become “theatrical actress Number 1 in the Gaza Strip”, persuaded that she has “good talent and skill”. Above all, she confesses that she felt “this project is the right place”. With UNESCO’s spark igniting her passion, her rising star will shine brighter and shine on other yearning artists in Gaza and beyond.

UNESCO’s International Fund for Cultural Diversity (IFCD) is a funding mechanism of the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions to support the emergence of the dynamic cultural and creative industries in developing countries.  For more information on the IFCD and the projects it supports, please visit: