Once you've started a Fellowship, there is no end to the ways in which you and your fellow members can begin to play a productive role. Here are a few suggestions for activities, suitable for almost any group on any occasion:
Community Dialogue:
Fish Bowl Conversations
A Fish Bowl conversation is a way to have an effective, intimate and personal conversation with a large group of people and gives an opportunity for every participant to share his or her perspective. Begin by dragging five or six chairs into a circle in the middle of the room. Six people from your meeting can take places inside the circle and begin the conversation. No one outside the circle should speak. When they feel moved to, participants in the circle can vacate their chair leaving room for someone else from the meeting to take a place in the circle and join the discussion. This is a good exercise particularly for larger groups.
Pass the Hat
Sometimes, particularly when speaking about very sensitive issues, people are afraid to ask questions. Often they?re afraid of sounding uninformed or insensitive. One way to overcome this is by asking questions anonymously. Everyone writes one or two questions down on a slip of paper, folds it and places it in a hat or basket. The meeting facilitator draws a question and allows someone from the group to answer it.
This exercise can be particularly useful for interfaith or multicultural discussions in which two or more different groups are attempting to learn more about each other (for example, a Christian can ask a Muslim a question about Islam and a Muslim can ask a question about Christianity).
Sharing a tradition
For interfaith discussions, particularly between the Abrahamic faiths, it can be a useful exercise to experience one of the traditions of the other community (as long as both parties feel comfortable). Joining a group of Jewish friends for a Passover Seder, for example, or joining a group of Muslim friends for the traditional breaking of the fast during Ramadan. Participating in a tradition is also a great way to begin a deeper discussion on any topics of faith, history, politics and values.
Meeting Your Local Representatives:
Another great way to make your voice heard is to call your local Representative or Senator to schedule a meeting. Your group can brainstorm strategies to approach your senators to ensure they are representing your interests in their approach to our foreign policy to the Middle East.
Fundraising:
House Parties
House parties can be a great way to raise funds for an important issue or cause. For example, if you'd like to raise money for an Israeli human rights group, like B'tselem or Rabbis for Human Rights, you can invite members of your group over, along with any of their friends and family they can convince to bring along, serve a quick meal and show them a video about human rights abuses in the Occupied Territories, followed by a discussion.
If the event is a fundraiser, don't be afraid to say so directly! On the invitation, you should encourage them to bring a checkbook. For example, on the invitation you can tell them to: "Be sure to bring: an open mind, a side dish and your checkbook!" Stress the critical importance of the cause or issue you are focusing on. This doesn't mean you have to turn away anyone who doesn't want to donate, just be clear that it's a fundraiser.
Sell Olive Crafts at a festival or market
Selling Olive Crafts, or other items made in Palestine, at a booth, market or fair is a great way to support the fundraising needs of your group while supporting struggling Palestinian artisans who, because of the current lack of tourism or trade and the crumbling economy, have been struggling to keep their businesses alive.
Appeal Letters
Often the best way to raise money is to simply ask for it. Many of the people in your group or who appreciate your goals are more than willing to donate money to your cause, but they won't give unless you ask!
Appeal letters should be short, eye-catching, personalized letters that outline your fundraising needs. Let people know how their money will make a difference-will it allow you to bring in a particular guest speaker, help send a fact-finding delegation to the Middle East, sponsor a conference or a workshop? The letters can be printed or Xeroxed, but we would recommend that you include a signature at the bottom (which can be imported as an image on your computer or simply written on and then Xeroxed) to add a "personal touch."
Membership Fees
An easy way to raise money for your expenses and additional projects and programs is by charging a small membership fee. Be sure to explain to your members the beneficial projects and programs that their donated money will help provide.
Creative Dissent:
Rice for Peace
www.riceforpeace.org
Send rice for peace: a small package of rice sent to the White House to remind the American president of the real needs of the Iraqi people. In the 1950's, tens of thousands of people sent rice to President Eisenhower to encourage him to send food to then-enemy China during a famine. The campaign helped dissuade Eisenhower from attacking China during two international confrontations. As the Bible has it, "If thine enemy hunger, feed him."
Media Monitoring Teams
The media does not always do a good job covering the Middle East. Sometimes the biggest issue doesn't have to do with the information they provide, it has to do with the information they DON'T provide, the stories they leave out. Many of the abuses afflicted upon Palestinians, Iraqis and others in the Middle East never make it to print, much less to the front page.
How good is your local newspaper's coverage of the Middle East? What about your local TV stations or radio? If the coverage is poor, you could consider setting up a media monitoring team. The team could write letters to the editor, correct factual errors and respond to biased stories or encourage media outlets to print important stories that they might have missed. Each team member can keep track of reports from a different source and respond when appropriate.
As in all other things, it's important to approach this task in a respectful and reasonable way. It's not fair, for example, to ask newspapers simply to represent your political perspective. That's not their job. What is their job is to publish the "full story" in a fair and accurate way. For a variety of reasons they are sometimes unable or unwilling to do this. You can help them by ensuring they have all the facts.