You Have to Do Something About It!!

It was a typical morning in the early summer of 1994.  I played 6:30AM basketball at the ProClub in Bellevue and then arrived at my Microsoft office around 7:45AM.   Within a few minutes of sitting down, my phone rang.  I answered, and the recognizable voice of my wife said with great urgency, “You have to do something about it!!”

I had absolutely no idea what she was speaking about.  I didn’t know if one of our children had smashed a hand in the car door.  Or if the dog had pooped all over the carpet.  But I did know that my wife, a very purposeful person, needed my help immediately.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Rwanda – you have to do something about it.”

I still didn’t know what she was talking about.

For several weeks Joyce had been reading in the New York Times about the horrifying Rwanda Genocide.  And this particular morning she was watching a morning news show while getting the kids ready for school.  The news segment, including visual imagery that was very upsetting, was devoted to the accelerating refugee crisis caused by the genocide in Rwanda.

From April to July 1994, members of the Rwandan Hutu ethnic majority murdered as many as 800,000 people, mostly of the Tutsi minority. Begun by extreme Hutu nationalists in the capital of Kigali, the genocide spread throughout the country with staggering speed and brutality, as ordinary citizens were incited by local officials and the Hutu government to take up arms against their Tutsi neighbors. 

By early July, the tide had turned and Tutsi forces had gained control over most of country.  In response, more than 2 million people, nearly all Hutus, fled Rwanda, and were now crowding into makeshift refugee camps in Zaire and other neighboring countries.  It was a true humanitarian crisis and this is what my wife was responding to.

In 1994 most Americans had never heard of Rwanda, a small African country wedged between Tanzania, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (then called Zaire).  The movie Hotel Rwanda would not arrive in theaters until the spring of 2005.  

Joyce knew that I was a creative problem solver.  She had just given me an urgent assignment – to bring immediate relief to some portion of the refugees in these camps – and now I had to figure out how to do it.  At this point in my life I had no experience working with NGOs and I had never been to Africa.  But I had to do something!

But at times like this I have learned to supplicate Heaven and rely on inspiration – the subtle coming together of seemingly disconnected ideas and bits of knowledge that have been stored, unconsciously, in one’s mind for who-knows-how-long.  Very quickly a plan, albeit somewhat crazy, came into focus based on two-soon-to-be-connected thoughts:

1. When we lived in Connecticut (1987-88) I recalled reading an article about a local non-profit based in Stamford, CT called AmeriCares.  Launched in 1982, this unique organization was the brainchild of  Bob Macauley (1923–2010).  I never met Macauley, but I liked his attitude.  In a 1990 interview, he said, “People will always give you nine reasons why it can’t be done. [My response is] just mow ‘em down. Make things happen.”

 

The unique competence of AmeriCares was that of being the first of the first responders to airlift much needed supplies directly to those in need.  Over the years AmeriCares has provided $12 billion in medicine, food and humanitarian aid to alleviate crises in more than 140 countries.   

 

1. Microsoft has a matching gift program that encourages employees to make financial donations to non-profits.  For example, if an employee donates $50, then Microsoft matches this with an additional $50 donation.

The concept forming in my mind was deceptively simple, yet required both a short fuse and a very quick turnaround.  How much money would it take to pay for AmeriCares to charter a jumbo cargo jet, full of emergency supplies that could reach some of these refugees in less than 48 hours?

This would require a two phone calls and an email, all executed in the correct order.  I first contacted AmeriCares.  I had never talked to them before in my life – but that’s what phones are for!  It was mid-morning on the east coast.  I learned that they were already working on the Rwandan crisis.  They had several large cargo jets full of supplies which had been donated by pharmaceutical and medical supply companies and other organizations.

The main cost factor for AmeriCares was that of aviation gas for the jets, landing fees and all the other operational costs.  They had raised enough money for a couple jets, but they didn’t have the funds for a third jet.   I asked how much they needed.  It was something like $200,000.  I then did something quite bold – I said, “You’ll have it by the end of the day. Get the jet ready to go.”

I then made my second phone call – this time to the manager of Microsoft’s matching gift program.  I briefly outlined the humanitarian disaster unfolding in the refugee camps and asked if Microsoft would match the financial donations that employees would make to AmeriCares.  I was assured that they would.

The next step was the essential “cross your fingers and hope this works” action item.  I composed and sent a personal email to as many people as I knew within Microsoft’s domestic operations.  I made sure they knew I was sending this as an employee, and not as a senior executive.  In this email, I outlined the Rwandan refugee disaster and explained that there was a jumbo cargo jet, full of life saving supplies, sitting on a tarmac in New York.  But it couldn’t take off until $100,000 was raised from employees and then matched by Microsoft’s generous matching gift program.  I invited each employee to participate by the end of the day, whether it was $5, $50 or $500.

I sent the email and then had a day full of meetings.  And I crossed my fingers.

I was amazed.  By 3 or 4PM, I was informed by the matching gift office that more than $100,000 had been pledged through the donations of hundreds of employees.  Microsoft matched this amount.  We immediately wired the $200,000 to AmeriCares and “our” plane was in the air.  Eventually AmeriCares flew eight airlifts into the disaster area, delivering more than 500,000 pounds of critical, life-saving supplies.

The lessons from this experience were important:  Trust a friend when she or he implores upon you to do something.  Most likely they sense something in your abilities of which you are not yet aware.  And then do what you can do.  We didn’t bring relief to every refugee – in fact, far from it.  But we did something.  

Perhaps that’s the most important lesson of all: Do something!