Escaping death, student finds research and new zest for life

After Lindsay Eppich had a brush with death, she studied in some of the most desperate and deadly places on Earth. There, she found a new purpose in life.

Near her hometown of Durango in July 2005, a motorcyclist struck and seriously injured Eppich, then an undergraduate studying international affairs at the University of Colorado. She suffered memory loss, chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorder. She was depressed, anxious and sensitive to light.

A year later, Eppich took her first class in anthropology, “Regional Cultures of Africa.” The class, taught by Laura DeLuca, an assistant professor adjunct of anthropology, “showed me what I want to do with my life,” Eppich says.

Research is Eppich’s calling, a fact she realized while doing “service learning” with the “Lost Girls of Sudan,” refugees. “I felt an immediate connection to these girls,” Eppich says. PTSD was a shared affliction of the American student and the African refugees, a fact that quickened and deepened their bond.

“We were able to understand each other on levels that most people have never experienced and cannot relate to,” Eppich says.

Eppich has worked with DeLuca since 2006, studying resettlement and repatriation for the Lost Girls.

The Lost Girls and Boys of Sudan, fleeing the unspeakable devastation of war and genocide, say “education is my mother and father.” Eppich, who earned her bachelor’s degree in anthropology in May, understands.

DeLuca and the refugees inspire Eppich to “continue learning as much as I can.” She has come to “truly value the power of education.”

“I hope to continue working with the Sudanese refugees and have been inspired by them to further my education both for my own growth and the perpetual growth of others.”