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Wednesday, March 17, 2010

UNWRA Seeds of Success: Shukran Murtaja – Education is the cornerstone of life

Shukran Murtaja – Education is the cornerstone of life

Seeds of Success

Damascus, March 2010

For the last three years Shukran Murtaja has cast a spell on Syrian audiences through her portrayal of Fawziyeh, one of the central characters in the country’s primetime Ramadan TV series, Bab Al-Hara.

Shukran, whose Palestinian parents came to Syria after leaving Gaza, credits her successful career to her education. After a childhood in rural Syria, she won a place at Damascus’ High Institute of Drama and went on to become one of its most high-profile alumni.

Education, she thinks, is a cornerstone in the life of any Palestine refugee, including her sister’s children, who attend UNRWA’s Ein Ghazal School in Damascus’ Dummar neighbourhood.

She says: “'Education, education and education’. That is what I tell all the girls, Palestinian or Syrian, who want to achieve something in life. Education is a weapon that enhances people’s chances of having a better future.”

Gaza visit

In January, Shukran travelled with a group of Syrian artists to the Gaza Strip, where she met her father’s family, most of whom she had never seen before.

Shukran says: “There are no words to describe the feeling I experienced arriving in Gaza City. I could not believe that I was between the beauty of its sea and the constant hardship and suffering of its people.

“It was a moment I had been waiting for all my life,” she says, with a broken voice, of the visit she paid to her grandmother’s tomb.

Since the visit to Gaza, Shukran has written a series of articles for magazines and newspapers describing her experiences there. “I feel much more optimistic, just like a newborn. I am proud of being Palestinian and I feel capable of anything.”

Endurance

“Palestine refugees are strong because they have been through a lot. They are known for their intelligence and cleverness, for their endurance and also their joy of life,” the 38-year-old entertainer says.

“As an actress, every day you perform a different role, but it is the role you enact in private that is the most important of them all - when the lights are off and you live your own life.

“Being a woman, a Palestinian and an actress, people sometimes believe that I have met many obstacles in my life. I always prove them wrong, because for me, the only conceivable obstacle to achieving something is oneself,” she continues, before the lights go off.

Text and photograph by Diego Gomez-Pickering

TV star shines in Syria
Professor Mohamed Tawfiq Al-Bujairami

Damascus, February 2010

In the second part of our Seeds of Success series, Professor Mohamed Tawfiq talks about his transformation from a displaced 10-year-old boy to a successful Syrian television presenter.

Read professor Mohamed's story

Hala Agha – Women First

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Hala Agha

Hala Agha was granted a research prize by the Arab Women Organization for her project on gender and violence in Syria. "This is a very important recognition because it symbolises the struggle Arab women face to let their voices be heard."

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