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Going where the trouble is
NH native works in world’s hotspots
By Sean Frederick news@hippopress.com
New Hampshire native Jennifer Poidatz has seen a lot of the world. For 15 years, her work for Catholic Relief Services has sent her trotting the globe to some of the most notorious hotspots of civil and economic strife. In 1994, she was sent to Rwanda, then in the throes of a genocidal civil war — the first in a series of “crisis” assignments in countries devastated by ethnic or political violence. Posts in Haiti, Burundi, and Angola followed. In 2005, she managed CRS’s tsunami relief in Sri Lanka.Now, in her current post as CRS’s country representative for India, she’s tackling a food crisis plaguing the nation of more than a billion people. She was recently back in the Granite State.
Q:Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Meredith, in the Lakes Region.
Have you always been given to traveling?
Growing up my family traveled quite a bit and I caught the travel bug. But I was more interested in traveling for work than as a tourist ... [I wanted] to see things while working as opposed to just while on vacation. That’s what took me to the Peace Corps and then grad school at Tufts.
So when did your relationship with CRS begin?
As I was finishing my Master’s and I was selected to be a [CRS] intern in Ghana. That’s where my career started, and after that I went directly to Rwanda, Burundi, Haiti, Angola, and you know, just kept going! [laughs]
How long have you been in India?
I’ve been there for two years. CRS calls it a country program, but it’s like each state of India of is its [own] individual country. The 18 states there each have their own contexts: either politically, economically, climatic ... so how things work in one state can’t always be automatically duplicated in all the others.
What lies at the root of the current food crisis in India?
Over 60 percent of the population relies on agriculture for their livelihood, and the majority of that focuses on one cropping season during the four months of the monsoon, which is actually starting right now. There’s often severe flooding, and the risk of losing [staple] crops is enormous. What we do is not just respond to that but build the capabilities of communities to resist shock.
We’ve seen food prices rise in NH; is the same thing happening there?
India hasn’t been sheltered at all from the current food crisis that’s affecting countries all over the world. It’s having an enormous impact on access to food.
Is there such a thing as “agribusiness” in India?
That’s the hardest part about India — when you have a population of 1.1 billion, you do have agribusiness, you do have enormous economic growth, and people are benefiting, but the problem is that with such a large population, the gaps between the haves and the have-nots is growing. There’s still so much to do.
Do you ever feel like the problem is bigger than you?
Oh, of course. But we know our limits. We are not doing this on our own. We work through a network of both faith-based and secular NGOs [non-governmental organizations]. And one thing about India is the government is very present. It’s not like in Rwanda and Angola, where basically you had no government structure.
What stands out as your most challenging assignment to date?
I would say that India’s been my most challenging. Because you’re looking at issues of longer-term development, but at the same time we have to be able to respond and assist others to respond within 24 hours to the next emergency. It keeps you on your toes!
Are there any places you’ve worked that were just plain dangerous?
Yeah, yeah. I would say the most dangerous was Rwanda during the genocide. I would also say going in and out of rural Angola when the war was still going on.
Well, you have a family. Do they live with you overseas?
Yeah, they do. My husband is French; we met in Angola. I left [full-time work with CSR] when I was 6 or 7 months pregnant; both of my kids were born in France. My son, who’s 6, has lived in Angola, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, and now in India. I think they both have learned a lot and seen a lot in their little years.
Even though your job by definition leads you to places where things are going wrong, have any proven relatively idyllic for a young family?
Yeah, I would say both my postings in Asia. Really dangerous posts are “non-dependent” posts anyways. [My husband and I] make sure we don’t put our kids in a situation of undue risk. During all of my emergency posts, I was still single. But I mean, we even went back to Colombo [Sri Lanka’s largest city] for Christmas vacation!
What would you most like people back home to understand about your work abroad?
It’s important to remember that just like any developed country, not everyone benefits. Just like in our own country, there are people who are struggling to put food on the table or care for a sick relative. And I think it’s important that we don’t forget them. Just because India is considered to be a “transitioning” country by the U.S. government, doesn’t mean that everything is wonderful and that we don’t still have to reach out and help those who are in need.
—Sean Frederick
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