BEDECKED in technicolour beach shorts, revealing bikini tops (the boys, at least), weathered straw hats and all manner of pelagic paraphernalia, about 150 UCT students braved the usually cantankerous rush-hour traffic early last Tuesday morning in a bid to peddle as many copies of the 2003 Sax Appeal as possible.

The annual excursion forms part of UCT Rag's (Remember and Give) bid to raise funds for the Students' Health and Welfare Centres Organisation (SHAWCO). In turn, the eye-catching outfits were in keeping with the edition's theme of "Sax on the Beach", which featured a swimming-trunked Robert Mugabe on the cover.

With a print-run of 40 000 copies to hawk, the students – all volunteers – took eagerly to the Western Cape streets where they cajoled and coaxed drivers and passengers into parting with R10 per copy. Failing this, the students' enthusiasm, at the very least, had commuters pulling away with smiles on their faces.

The day's endeavours are but the culmination of months' of preparation, explains Kim Adonis, finance manager with Rag and Carer for the Sax Appeal project. Leading the way was project manager Alistair McAlpine, who, together with Adonis and the Rag Committee, is responsible for making sure the administrative side of the Sax Appeal drive is taken care of, which includes checking out the viability of various “depots” (selling points) and recruiting the volunteers.

Taking care of editorial matters was editor Paul McNally, who, with a team of five assistants, put together the content for the publication. This not only involved editing the many outside contributions, but also penning a few original pieces for the magazine, which, over the past decades, has become renowned for its impish humour.

Why students get involved in Sax Appeal and all other Rag events, says Adonis, is a sometimes difficult question to answer. From a more personal perspective, it all comes down to one tenet, she notes – “it's a way to give back”.

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