Poverty cripples every section of Haiti. Graduate student Nikhita Bhagwat saw it in Google images and web searches in the weeks before she flew to the island nation for the first time. Reality, she said, was much worse.
"Once you step foot there, it's quite unbelievable to see people facing that much poverty and lack of infrastructure," said Bhagwat, a native of New Delhi, India. "It's very sad and heart-breaking, but it makes you feel like returning more often to make a difference."