With midterms winding down and (slightly) cooler weather finally arriving in Durham, most Duke students welcomed last week's Fall Break as a chance to relax, sleep, and visit with friends and family. For one cohort of Haiti Lab students and professors, however, the break brought an entirely different experience-four days in Haiti investigating post-earthquake Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Building off of nearly two months of research and preparation, professors Deborah Jenson, Kathy Walmer, and Jacques Pierre, along with undergraduates Kendra Hinton, Annie McDonough, Nadine Michel, and Jenn Denike spent their brief time in the country trying to understand the psychological scars the January earthquake left behind. Over the course of the trip, they visited four different regions and administered PTSD questionnaires to 46 earthquake survivors as part of a pilot study, staying along the way with whatever community members opened their doors-from a vodou priestess to the Catholic nuns at a local orphanage.  
 

For Senior Kendra Hinton, a psychology and French double major who is also learning Kreyòl, the trip provided the incomparable opportunity to apply several of her passions to a real world problem. We talked with Kendra to learn more about the trip, its impact, and where the group will go from here.