| Notes |
I joined CRS in 1990, soon after finishing my graduate studies in Latin American Studies and Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. During the course of my field research on a women's managed, agricultural cooperative in the Northeast of Brazil, I became quite intrigued at the potential of community-led development initiatives to deliver sustainable change and I began to seek employment opportunities with international development organizations.
It was in this context that I first encountered Catholic Relief Services. CRS had been invited by the Government of Angola and the local Catholic Church to establish emergency humanitarian operations in the midst of a nearly three decade's long civil war. While I had limited field experience, CRS was interested in my Portuguese language skills and offered me a very concrete opportunity to contribute. Basically, I jumped at it.
Over the next two years, I participated in the nuts and bolts of the emergency response, targeting about 150,000 war-affected civilians: distributing food, changing tires, running logistics. In short it was a very powerful, humbling experience for me personally, working with extremely capable and dedicated people with a tremendous opportunity to learn and make concrete differences each and every day. |