PICKENS COUNTY — Ron Duncan saw the suffering in Haiti first hand.

Perhaps the strongest image was the sad eyes of a 14-month old boy.

Duncan was leading the third medical relief team sent to Haiti by the South Carolina Baptist Convention.

The boy had a fever of 105 degrees. Duncan, the Director of Missions for the Pickens-Twelve Mile Baptist Association, was asked to pray for the boy as he awaited medical attention.

“I rubbed his little head with a wet cloth and he was scorching hot,” Duncan said in an E-mailed report. “He looked in my eyes and he seemed to be asking, can you help me? He was horrified of the people dressed like medical folks, so I just kept rubbing his head and torso with wet wipes.”

The child screamed in fear when the nurse came over to administer shots of medicine, Duncan said.

“Once again the eyes locked with mine,” Duncan said. “I kept praying and wiping his head. The prayers and medicine started working.”

The boy drank Gatorade from a cup Duncan held up to his lips.

“He was so dry,” Duncan said. “He smiled at me and when we escorted them to the gate, I waved at him and his little hand motioned to me.”

Duncan and his team were set to return home Tuesday night.

The team was sent by the state convention, but is made up almost exclusively of Pickens County residents, including Kenny McPeters, an Emergency Medical Technician from Dacusville; Dr. Julie Dangler of Easley; nurse Donna Garrett of Baptist Easley; and Caesar Freeman, a pharmacist from Pickens and Brook Baker Newman, a nurse from Pickens.

Eddie Pettit of Pickens, who led the first medical relief team sent by the South Carolina Baptist Convention, said the roots of these relief teams goes back three and a half years ago, when the convention decided it needed to be able to respond to such emergencies, and teams began training with national Southern Baptist relief officials.

Pettit said the teams are basically assigned to a city of 4,000 people. Teams have been changing out about every 10 days, although now that the Haiti airport has been reopened, future teams will likely arrive on a Sunday then leave the next Sunday.

Pettit said that almost every structure in Haiti was destroyed by the Jan. 12 earthquake. Few people have adequate shelter, with many living in “tent cities.”

Such living conditions create more medical emergencies, especially among the very young.

“We saw a lot more babies than we did anyone else,” Pettit said. “You can imagine what it would be like living in a tent through all kinds of weather. We saw some really sick babies.”

Pettit said one 12-month-old baby that was treated only weighed six pounds.

Pettit was amazed at how widespread the disaster is in Haiti.

“You don’t meat a single person who has not lost somebody,” Pettit said. “It may be a spouse, a child or a parent, but it seems that everybody has lost somebody close.”

Pettit said that while the medical professionals on each team have witnessed suffering through their normal duties, they have not had to deal with such an extreme amount of difficult cases.

“It is very rewarding, but it pushes people to their limits,” Pettit said. “They start early in the morning and continue into the night.”

Volunteers from the local church go through the tent cities to find those who need medical attention most. The bring the most desperate to the missionaries for medical attention.

“We try to be low-key about this, or else we would be overwhelmed by all the people who want help,” Pettit said.

Pettit said the local church there is playing a key role in the emergency efforts, even though the church building was destroyed by the earthquake.

“They probably have less than 200 members, but between 500 and 600 will show up every Sunday for services in the street,” Pettit said.

Many Haitians have lost everything, Pettit said.

“Most only have the clothes on their backs,” Pettit said. “Some don’t have clothes for their children, so they just tie something to them to cover them.”