Meeting Summary- February 8th

Today's meeting started out with a few words from Ben on the current situation in Darfur.  We all agree that Africa seems to be spiraling out of control into a cycle of tribal conflicts and civil wars, based on the fighting that is now breaking out in Kenya, which is historically one of Africa's most stable countries, and in Chad, Darfur's neighbor that is getting "too involved" in the current Darfur crisis, according to the Sudanese government.  The fact that there is fighting in both Kenya and Chad is making it very difficult to get relief supplies to the people in Darfur, as these countries were both commonly used to channel supplies through.  Additionally, the fighting could turn into a full-scale crisis, such as the one in Darfur, creating the need for even more supplies and further pressuring the UN to more assertively deploy peacekeeping forces.

The articles Ben referenced can be found at these links: "Darfur Force May Take All Year", "'Janjaweed Leader' is Sudan Aide", and "Fighting Resumes in Chad's Capital".  

Before breaking into committees, we also discussed recent developments by the various groups in the past week.  

First, Mrs. Donohue read us excerpts of a letter from Senator Hillary Clinton in response to a letter written by one of the students in the Holocaust/Genocide Class.  Senator Clinton described the steps she's taken in getting our government to pressure the Sudanese government into allowing UN Peacekeeping forces in.

The Battle of the Bands Committee has found a possible venue that would only want a small percentage of the ticket money, but Mrs. Donohue was concerned about the liability of holding an off-campus event.  She is looking into other options this week.

Marissa has been searching for postcards to use at the "Sand and Sorrow" showing for PIG hours.  Mrs. Donohue has reviewed the websites that Marissa provided, and most of the postcards seem a little too expensive.  If anyone can find any postcards that have pre-written messages about Darfur and can be sent to senators and government officials, but are free or extremely cheap, please contact Mrs. Donohue or someone in the Darfur Action Committee with information on where and how to get these cards.

After this, we broke into committees and everyone worked out details for planning our various events this year. So far, we are planning on a "Doors for Darfur" fundraiser, a Dine-Around to raise money for solar cookers, our "Sand and Sorrow" PIG activity, a Scavenger hunt, and a Battle of the Bands if we can work the details out.  Our Public Relations Committee is considering having a bake sale or another pizza sale to raise awareness and funds.  If anyone has any other suggestions that they are willing to help plan for, ideas can be posted on this blog or brought up at our next meeting on Friday, February 15th.

All in all, even though many people were not able to make it to this past meeting, it was very productive.  I am excited to see the results of all of these ideas once put into action. Keep up the good work everyone!

-Ginny