as it turns out the woman we just saw speaking is the one i'm going to be talking with and you are mona stuckey i'm the president of the arab center of washington and the gentleman we just saw i actually pronounce his name incorrectly a moment ago his name is and he is he's a poet he's a poet he's an american born palestinian poet and writer and activist so obviously he was talking about the palestinian issue stuff there that's correct he's basically expressing the he's the the story the narrative of the palestinian people and the arab festival airing it obviously and from what i've just seen a little bit of it includes a number of different nations that's correct there are twenty two arab countries that are comprised of the arab world as or all twenty two represented here than not all twenty two i mean there's there's larger populations more than others but in our festival we'd love we like to bring attention to our in one way or another now in the in the past six years get more people involved to help you do it so i can come every year yeah that would be nice i mean it be great if we can build the infrastructure of the of the arab center of washington and really build it into the organization that it has potential to be then i think maybe  community and the larger community because i think there are a lot of misunderstandings a lot of stereotypes there's a lot of fear out there and we want to build those bridges and create cross cultural understanding through our programs so in between the festivals we have other programs like been in august and usually i'm in sturgis during that time so this is the first time where i've actually been able to be here why the change to october well because it reach out with charitable activities and so they fast from sunrise to sundown several weeks before an asterisk by the similar thing how was it that explain how ramadan actually change  production schedules like two years in advance so you know we had to move it from august and october is the only  would like to really get to the viewers who were watching this episode who have never been to this come and get to know and put in when you stereotypes and sides of the things you read in the media side and really come and get to know the arab americans in your community they are your neighbors your friends come website yes contact w w w dot arab center wall dot org all right i know that you're busy i thank you for taking time to talk to my viewers and i'll let you get back to what you need to do and again thank you hey thanks a lot be a little closer as i continue or there's another book or display area featuring tunisia and these are some artifacts and the one peace and social justice work since ninety seven and we here at the at festivals supporting our arab community here in seattle as we've done for many many years and two of our messages one is reduced the the bumper stickers that you have down there  you have a website for more information yes please we welcome everyone to go to w w w a f s c dot org that's american friends service committee that work where you can find the latest information on what we're doing worldwide and also itself well what exactly i mean how large the ballast can be here in the seattle area i'm not sure i'm actually from austin i'm here from austin texas the food you're serving up is what the lebanese lebanese please visit my archive page at seattle community media dot org slash node slash two six five five eight slash list shows while my website is being updated or shoot me an email and i'll send you the link and as always thank you for watching adventure t v cultural festivals