Newsletter- Holiday issue- “Seeds of Hope” On November 18th, Daoud and I concluded his Fall ’12 Tour of 14 cities and 9 States and the District of Columbia in a 23 day, 47 event filled experience that took us from California to Massachusetts, from Wisconsin to Mississippi, Indiana to Maryland, and to several states in between. We changed time zones so often, we seldom knew the hour. In that span of time, over 3800 people personally witnessed the telling of the Nassar family story at one of those events and who contributed more than $12,000 beyond the cost of travel and lodging expenses, to the Tent of Nations Project. Because of these gifts, women will enroll in education classes, refugee camp youth will attend summer workshops, new cisterns will be be dug, and new farming and irrigation projects will be strengthened. This indeed was the most ambitious and fruitful tour by FOTONNA of the 10 prior tours since 2007 thanks to your support and that of our Advisory Council. But far greater than the numbers, and dollars were the human experiences along the way. There were the hosts who opened their homes in Berkeley, Livermore, Santa Cruz, Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Fitchburg, Annapolis, and their campuses at Stanford, Harvard, Taylor Universities and Edgewood and Bryan Colleges. There were folks who drove the team hundreds of miles to various venues, and greeted us at the airports and fed us fresh meals. Most of all, there were the audiences at every venue who welcomed a story of a Palestinian Christian farmer whose non-violent resistance efforts and “refusal to be enemies” message resonated with their deepest hopes for an alternative to violent activities driven by fear. The spirit and words of his story reflected one of “faith, hope and love”. This also was a message for all the many Israelis and Palestinians, regardless of their faith, who might support a just peace in order to bring an end to the occupation not for just one family, but for all who live as” occupiers and the occupied”. A final story. In Jackson, Mississippi where Daoud shared his story to a small gathering of ministers in a predominately Black church, one staff member confronted Daoud and I as we were seated and debriefing the experience together. He looked at us individually, and then said, “ I am not going to apologize for what I am about to say, and you may not be happy with my message, but here goes.” Neither Daoud or myself knew what to expect, but he got our attention. We rose from our seats. As he spoke he gestured for us all sit, not three feet a part. He then said to Daoud, “ I am extremely angry about what you said!” Our blood pressures began to rise a bit with the tenor of his voice, and the vehemence in his face. He then said, “ I have never heard that story before.” It has always been the message from one narrative for me. You have changed my life forever, and filled my mind with new questions to which I must and will search for answers.” And then he rose to embrace Daoud and thanked him for his message of hope.” In almost every audience there were many who said, “I never heard this story before.” Many new “seeds of hope” were spread throughout the country during those three weeks. Gratefully, Bill Plitt from all of us at FOTONNA