We have been told that Macalester students talk, picket and protest, but are too lazy to work for any meaningful change. Observing the majority of students at Macalester, it seems difficult to dismiss this. We tried to come up with things that our friends did outside of class to make the world a better place. A few volunteer at non-profits; we were not exactly sure what they did there, and unfortunately had never really cared. Others are members of student organizations. They join because they want to change things, yet despite their weekly meetings, it doesn't seem as if much is accomplished in those settings either. We were determined to find a genuine cause to pursue and actually do something about it.

A couple of days later, PBS provided us with an answer. Landmines. We would network through the Macalester community and use the resources at hand to host a fundraising dinner to help equip landmine removal teams in Afghanistan. That was in December. Two months later, everything is in place. Kagin ballroom is booked, we've contracted with caterers, three big-name speakers, and enlisted many Macalester students to be the ushers, servers and entertainers.

We have SPOed more than 400 flyers to faculty and staff. We have visited professors' offices one by one, and announced the event in our classes. In a week's time, we've had one on-campus response: Aglaia Kiarina Kordela from the German Department. We take this opportunity to thank her.

All of Carnegie, except for the Economics Department who we have yet to visit, has already told us they're not coming. What bugs the hell out of us is how many people have told us that it will be a great event and congratulated our efforts and the high-quality speakers we have managed to get.

Our faith in Macalester is beginning to flounder. But all is not yet lost. You can help and we believe you will. We really want to raise money to de-mine Afghanistan. But we can't do this without you. If each of you were to convince one person (family member, relative, employer, or friend) to come to this dinner, we could pack the house.

The dinner is next Friday, March 6th. We need people to commit by Tuesday March 3rd. Registration forms with details are sitting at the Campus Center Information Desk. Go pick some up. Read it. Tell people about it. Impress upon them the fact that every month 150 to 300 people are crippled or killed in Afghanistan by the explosion of landmines. Afghanistan has the world's highest level of landmine contamination. Landmines have caused the abandonment of an estimated 87,000 homes and displaced hundreds of thousands of people. They remain a major impediment to rehabilitation of the country because they make roads impassable, grazing and agricultural lands unusable, and irrigation systems unsafe to operate. The removal process of landmines is expensive. They can help fund it by coming to this dinner: the full ticket price of $20 will go to the cause, as a donor is covering our costs. They will only come if you convince them.