“I have not seen my kids since the earthquake hit,” says Laura Graham ’95 when asked how many hours she’s been putting in on the massive fundraising and organizational effort the Clinton Foundation has launched into since the disaster hit Haiti on Jan. 12.
The chief operating officer and chief of staff to President Clinton says that this disaster is different for her — even though she has seen tragedy on massive scales before, such as when President Clinton teamed up with President George H.W. Bush to help after the 2004 Southeast Asian tsunami and after Hurricane Katrina on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
In Haiti’s case, “I had been there before,” she says. The Clinton Foundation has been involved in Haiti’s recovery since the devastating hurricanes of 2008, and President Clinton was named U.N. Special Envoy to Haiti in May 2009. Graham began traveling there, meeting and working with the United Nations staff and members of the Haitian government.
“It’s more personal,” she says, since she knew many of those who were killed. “It becomes more than just work for you,” she says. “This has touched you on a different level.”
Graham traveled with President Clinton to Haiti on Jan. 18 and saw that many of the places where she had spent time now lie in ruins: Hotel Montana, the Presidential Palace, restaurants, a school where children in brightly colored uniforms sang for the visiting dignitaries. She wonders how many of the children survived.
Graham reports that they observed none of the lawlessness reported in news media. Instead, she says, a palpable sense of shock among the people made the greater impression. She describes driving up to the General Hospital, the road lined with family groups — some patients, others just homeless. They had water buckets and were trying to cook over small fires. The hospital was overflowing, doctors — American and European volunteers as well as Haitians — working non-stop, even treating patients under tents and trees. An eerie silence hung over this scene. Little talking, no laughing, and blank stares.
Within 48 hours of the quake, the Clinton Foundation had launched its Haiti Fund and raised $10 million for relief efforts. The Clinton Foundation has become a clearinghouse for information and a coordinator of relief efforts. With 10 staff and a crew of volunteers working phones and computers, they address inquiries ranging from people trying find their loved ones, to individuals asking where they can donate goods, to airlines offering cargo space for relief supplies and seats on flights for doctors, to a person wanting to recover a loved one’s body from the rubble. They also reach out for help: With a call to the CEO of Home Depot, placed five hours before their departure for Haiti, they had a shipment of donated generators to take along. A call to IBM resulted in 50 laptops for Haitian government ministers. Graham is working her channels to fulfill Haitian President Rene Preval’s request for 60,000 tents.
“I could use five or ten more people daily,” she admits.
In the midst of all of this, Graham appears remarkably calm and in control, her office neat; text-messaging while answering interview questions shows that modern multitasking is a skill she has mastered.
Graham says that she and the Clinton Foundation are committed to this work for the long term. “Seeing it through is very important,” she observes. “Any time you can leave your work and say I played a tiny part in helping, it’s worthwhile. I sometimes remind the staff of this: If you can contribute in some small way to helping someone, somewhere, it’s a good day.”
If you would like to help, Laura Graham recommends donating cash if possible. The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund (http://clintonbushhaitifund.org/) seeks donations for the relief and recovery efforts.
