Benin RPCV Jennifer Poidatz heads all of Catholic Relief Services’ programs in India



“I’ve always had an interest in seeing other countries and other cultures and wanted a profession where I could do this as work. And becoming a relief worker was one way to accomplish that,” said Poidatz, who joined the Peace Corps right after she graduated from the University of Vermont in 1988 and spent two years in Benin, West Africa, managing a growth-monitoring program for Catholic Relief Services in 11 villages.

Benin RPCV Jennifer Poidatz heads all of Catholic Relief Services’ programs in India

Cause and effect

by Roger Amsden, Sunday News Correspondent
The Manchester Union Leader

Caption: Jennifer Poidatz, CRS/India. Photo by CRS.

Jennifer Poidatz has seen in vivid detail the genocides in Rwanda and Burundi, and the terrible toll of the 2005 tsunamis in Sri Lanka.

Since growing up in the Lakes Region, Poidatz has spent most of her adult life as a relief worker in trouble spots all over the world.

What amazes her most about her work, she said, is the resilience and courage of the people she tries to help: people who are victims of conflicts or acts of nature that they have no control over, who have lost family members and relatives, along with their homes, livelihoods and material possessions.

“They have an ability to bounce back and persevere. It’s amazing to me that people can maintain their dignity in times of crisis like the people that I’ve worked with have been able to do. As someone who lives in the Western world, I can never complain again about life here after having seen what people in these countries have had to endure,” she said.

Poidatz last year was named to head up all of Catholic Relief Services’ programs in India, which with over 1 billion people, is the world’s second-most populous nation.

Poidatz, who grew up in Meredith and graduated from Inter-Lakes High School in 1983, said she has been so inspired by the people she has worked with that she sometimes feels guilty about her work.

“I really feel that I get a lot more out of this than I give back. Hopefully I can pass that along to my children,” said Poidatz, who says that her own parents, Joe and Susan George, who now live in Ashland, helped her to shape her own view of the world by instilling in her the idea that people of all nations, faiths and colors should strive to live peacefully together.

“I’ve always had an interest in seeing other countries and other cultures and wanted a profession where I could do this as work. And becoming a relief worker was one way to accomplish that,” said Poidatz, who joined the Peace Corps right after she graduated from the University of Vermont in 1988 and spent two years in Benin, West Africa, managing a growth-monitoring program for Catholic Relief Services in 11 villages.

For the next two years she worked as a research assistant with the United Nations University Food and Nutrition Program, helping to develop an International Food Intake Directory to provide data on dietary intakes in developing countries. She earned her master’s degree in International Nutrition from Tufts University with her research.

After serving as intern with CRS in Ghana she was sent to Rwanda in 1994, which was in the throes of a genocidal civil war. There she helped start emergency relief and reestablished a CRS office. She also designed and implemented a feeding program for vulnerable groups and seeds and tools programs for resettled populations.

It was the first in a series of “crisis” assignments in countries devastated by ethnic or political violence. Stints followed in Haiti in 1995, Burundi, which was wracked with civil strife, in 1996 and Angola, during that country’s civil war in 1998. Most recently she was in charge of tsunami relief efforts in Sri Lanka.

She’s felt that her life has been in danger many times.

“There have been times when it’s been pretty tense. You’re being stopped at checkpoints by one group while there’s shooting down from the hillside by opposition groups. We usually travel with United Nations escorts but even then it’s at a lot of risk going into these areas,” she said.

Poidatz is married to François Poidatz, an engineer from France whom she met in Angola during the civil war there. Francois is also involved in humanitarian work as a consultant: He worked most recently in Indonesia before heading to Pakistan, where he’s working with earthquake relief crews.

The couple have two children, Gabriel, 6, and Madeleine, 3. Podiatz and her daughters were able to spend a few days late last month with her parents in New Hampshire.

“It was great to take them swimming in Squam Lake and enjoy some time with my family,” said Poidatz. After the break, she flew to India where she resumed overseeing 13 local CRS offices that work with nearly 3,000 partner organizations to carry out projects that promote social justice, equitable access to resources, and empowerment for marginalized groups. She said her office’s priorities include eradicating child labor and strengthening community-based care and support systems for families affected by HIV/AIDS.

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. The agency provides assistance to people in 99 countries and territories based on need, regardless of race, nationality or creed.

Links to Related Topics (Tags):

Headlines: July, 2007; Peace Corps Benin; Directory of Benin RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Benin RPCVs; Peace Corps India; Directory of India RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for India RPCVs; NGO's

When this story was posted in November 2007, this was on the front page of PCOL:




Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers

---

Dodd vows to filibuster Surveillance Act Senator Chris Dodd vowed to filibuster the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that would grant retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that helped this administration violate the civil liberties of Americans. "It is time to say: No more. No more trampling on our Constitution. No more excusing those who violate the rule of law. These are fundamental, basic, eternal principles. They have been around, some of them, for as long as the Magna Carta. They are enduring. What they are not is temporary. And what we do not do in a time where our country is at risk is abandon them."

---

---

November 12, 2007: This Month's Top Stories Chris Dodd's service began with Peace Corps 9 Nov Matthew McCue called back to Iraq from Peace Corps 9 Nov Tschetter Visits Turkmenistan 9 Nov Lara Weber writes: Oprah Winfrey's stumble 9 Nov Heather Thompson works with P Diddy 7 Nov Karen Hughes' public diplomacy came to nothing 4 Nov James Rupert writes: Musharraf seizes power 3 Nov Martin Puryear is Man of Mysteries 2 Nov Sarah Chayes says Taliban score major victory 1 Nov John Sullivan runs Sudan Divestment Task Force. 30 Oct Tom Bissell writes: Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro 28 Oct Chris Shays to seek 12th term 25 Oct Helen Dudley can't stop giving 25 Oct Joseph Acaba named to STS-119 Shuttle Crew 22 Oct Vince Floriani in USA Today's All-USA Teacher Team 22 Oct Kelly J. Morris writes "The Bight of Benin" 20 Oct Charles Shelan was Buddhist monk Wondam’s teacher 19 Oct Peace Corps returning to Liberia 18 Oct David Peckham started Village Bicycle Project 16 Oct Alberto Ibarguen announces grant for "Project Impunity" 15 Oct Campbell Memorial Park boosts ecotourism 15 Oct Bowers Family keep daughter's dream alive 15 Oct

---

What is the greatest threat facing us now? "People will say it's terrorism. But are there any terrorists in the world who can change the American way of life or our political system? No. Can they knock down a building? Yes. Can they kill somebody? Yes. But can they change us? No. Only we can change ourselves. So what is the great threat we are facing? I would approach this differently, in almost Marshall-like terms. What are the great opportunities out there - ones that we can take advantage of?" Read more.

---

Senator Dodd's Peace Corps Hearings Read PCOL's executive summary of Senator Chris Dodd's hearings on July 25 on the Peace Corps Volunteer Empowerment Act and why Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter does not believe the bill would contribute to an improved Peace Corps while four other RPCV witnesses do. Highlights of the hearings included Dodd's questioning of Tschetter on political meetings at Peace Corps Headquarters and the Inspector General's testimony on the re-opening of the Walter Poirier III investigation.

---

Paul Theroux: Peace Corps Writer Paul Theroux began by writing about the life he knew in Africa as a Peace Corps Volunteer. His first first three novels are set in Africa and two of his later novels recast his Peace Corps tour as fiction. Read about how Theroux involved himself with rebel politicians, was expelled from Malawi, and how the Peace Corps tried to ruin him financially in John Coyne's analysis and appreciation of one of the greatest American writers of his generation (who also happens to be an RPCV).

---

Ambassador revokes clearance for PC Director A post made on PCOL from volunteers in Tanzania alleges that Ambassador Retzer has acted improperly in revoking the country clearance of Country Director Christine Djondo. A statement from Peace Corps' Press Office says that the Peace Corps strongly disagrees with the ambassador’s decision. On June 8 the White House announced that Retzer is being replaced as Ambassador. Latest: Senator Dodd has placed a hold on Mark Green's nomination to be Ambassador to Tanzania.

---

Suspect confesses in murder of PCV Search parties in the Philippines discovered the body of Peace Corps Volunteer Julia Campbell near Barangay Batad, Banaue town on April 17. Director Tschetter expressed his sorrow at learning the news. “Julia was a proud member of the Peace Corps family, and she contributed greatly to the lives of Filipino citizens in Donsol, Sorsogon, where she served,” he said. Latest: Suspect Juan Duntugan admits to killing Campbell. Leave your thoughts and condolences .

---

He served with honor One year ago, Staff Sgt. Robert J. Paul (RPCV Kenya) carried on an ongoing dialog on this website on the military and the peace corps and his role as a member of a Civil Affairs Team in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have just received a report that Sargeant Paul has been killed by a car bomb in Kabul. Words cannot express our feeling of loss for this tremendous injury to the entire RPCV community. Most of us didn't know him personally but we knew him from his words. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends. He was one of ours and he served with honor.

Read the stories and leave your comments.