Pastor Johnny Buckner wasn”t feeling well this week, but he”s not one to complain.
He says he is doing “incredibly, fantastically well,” despite the flu-like symptoms.
“How can I say anything other than that after seeing the things that I”ve seen?” Buckner asked rhetorically.
Buckner and nearly a dozen other Starkville residents returned last week from Haiti, where they spent more than a week volunteering in the earthquake recovery effort. Haitian officials have put the death toll at more than 200,000, and the group from Starkville witnessed the devastation firsthand.
The scene was chaotic from the time their flight landed in Port-au-Prince on Jan. 19, just a week after the earthquake, Buckner said. The group, made up of six medical professionals and six other volunteers, including an electrician, a heavy-equipment operator, a translator and others, spent some of their time working at Hope Hospital in Port-au-Prince. The rest of the time was spent at Community Hospital in Petionville, a suburb of Port-au-Prince.
The need for blood and medical supplies was urgent, Buckner recalls, and the hospitals were overrun with patients. Operating rooms, the Intensive Care Unit and the hallways were full of people. Surgeons even were operating on patients in tents outside, he said.
Many of the surviving victims had serious injuries, which required doctors to amputate limbs. The stench of rotting flesh was “horrendous,” he said, and open wounds were a common site.
Buckner admits the situation was tough to handle emotionally, but he did his best to stay professional. It was at the end of each day when the group would “debrief,” he said, and let their feelings out.
“What happens is your adrenaline kicks in, along with a super flow of energy from God, and you push the pause button on your emotions and get the job done,” Buckner said. “Emotionally, it”s tough. We saw people die. We carried bodies out to the street to be picked up.”
“It”s the most traumatic and ongoing traumatic experience I”ve ever had,” he added.
And Buckner has volunteered for recovery efforts all over the world, including the deadly tsunami in southeast Asia in 2005.
“I will be affected for life by this,” he said.
Donald Rule, of Starkville, served as the group”s translator in the French and Creole-speaking country. He also was impacted by the experience.
“It was eye-opening,” Rule said. “You realize the plight these people are in. They have no control over their circumstances, not just with the earthquake, but with hurricanes and a corrupt government and the poverty. The country is in really bad shape.”
Residents were begging volunteers for food and water, and a bottle of water cost $2, Rule said.
“These people are making $2 a day and they have to spend that just on a bottle of water,” Rule said. “These people would scrounge up a bottle of water and that”s it for the day.”
Rule and Buckner both hope to travel back to Haiti soon, though they are not sure when that might happen. Buckner thinks it may be March. A group from Jackson is planning a trip and several volunteers from Starkville might go, as well, Buckner said.
Buckner was grateful to the Golden Triangle residents, businesses and organizations that donated items to the recovery effort. Oktibbeha County Hospital donated boxes of medical supplies, Lowe”s donated respirators for volunteers to wear and countless churches and other organizations donated food and supplies.
“It really was a tremendous opportunity to see God”s kingdom brought into a very devastated place,” Buckner said.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 33 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
