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PHOTOGENXApril 2010 What’s Inside?

+Updates on our recent trip to Haiti+Th e meetings that followed+Diane’s Health

Youth With A Mission (YWAM) Haiti is committed to

the transformation of Haiti as a nation. Staff and students

alike are sowing their lives into serving and discipling the

people of the land. The YWAM base in St. Marc has

become a hub of coordination for designing and

administering the registration of Internally Displaced

Persons (IDPs) who are migrating away from the ruins of

Port Au Prince to the St. Marc district. To date, these

efforts have processed more than 10,000 individuals,

securing temporary housing, food distribution as well as

access to emergency medical care. In addition, the YWAM

base is functioning as a distribution point for food and aid

in conjunction with donations from USAID and World Food

Program. In the mid-term, they are developing sites for

tent communities and in the long-term are developing land

for building houses for people who choose to relocate to

St. Marc permanently. Together with these land

development projects, there are numerous other

community development issues that YWAM as a global

organization is taking action on.

PhotogenX was asked by the YWAM global

leadership to go to Haiti to conduct interviews, create a

photographic survey of the land and to research. We had

the incredible opportunity of being on the team of 7 people

from PhotogenX to go. When we got back, we put

together several presentations that were given to influential

business executives, investors, water specialists, nuclear

energy specialists, engineers, filmmakers and the like from

all over the world who had one common vision; to allow

God to use them to help Haiti. We feel incredibly honored

to have been able to serve the nation of Haiti in a way that

will bring much action in the very near future!

an update from Steve + Diane

L’Union Fait La Force“Strength through Unity”HAITI

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Faces of HaitiHope amidst Tragedy

Steve made some local friends who were

waiting to be treated at the YWAM clinic. They were fascinated by his colorful

skin!

Diane holding a tiny earthquake survivor named Levi while his

mother collected dried food items and supplies from a distribution at YWAM St.

Marc

visit photogenx.net to watch a video presentation that we created in Haiti!

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About three days after returning from

Haiti, I (Diane) began to have flu-like

symptoms. It did not seem serious at first,

but when I wasn’t getting better after a week,

I knew it was time to see a doctor. The doctor

suspected parasites based on my symptoms

and even after running labs that came back

negative for parasites, he was convinced it

was a false negative. The results did come

back positive for salmonella, so I was

prescribed an antibiotic, Cipro. For two days

the symptoms seemed to slow down, but I

still had very little energy, was sleeping most

of the time and was not able to keep fluids or

food in my body. From the beginning I was

achey and weak, but one night I woke up in

excruciating pain and had to rush to the

emergency room as I was having trouble

breathing. Because of the pain I was in, they

immediately put me on a heart monitor at the

ER. After running some lab tests (which all

came back normal...except for that pesky

salmonella) the doctor ruled that I was having

a bad reaction to Cipro. I was instructed to

stop taking it, put on prescription pain

relievers and sent home. For a few days the

pain was excruciating in my back and the

pain relievers made me sick, so I had to stop

taking them. My body was weak and tired but

trying so hard to fight. The pain eventually

lessened in my back, but worsened in my

joints and tendons around my shoulders and

knees, where before it had only been mild

and achey. The pain became so strong in my

left knee that I went to see my doctor again.

He sent me for x-rays to rule out if there was

fluid and infection in my joints. There was

fluid, but not infection, my knee was very

swollen. My knee needed to be drained,

which temporarily relieved some of the pain.

After my body had some time to relax after

having such a bad reaction to Cipro, I was

put on another antibiotic to treat the

salmonella, as well as a different pain reliever

(which also made me sick and I am not able

to take). I felt very strongly that my joint pain

was a reaction to the salmonella and

suspected that I was experiencing something

called “Reiter’s Syndrome” but my doctor

disagreed. I was persistent in

asking him to check into it so he

referred me to a joint specialist. I

called the joint specialist only to

find that she charged $300 just

for the initial consult without any

testing included. I was

disheartened and frustrated.

We had just come

back from about nine

months of traveling and

had just started the

process of switching to a US

insurance before I got sick.

Because our new insurance hadn’t

kicked in yet, we have paid for every doctors

visit, emergency room visit, diagnostic test

and prescription. The expensive consultation

was intimidating, so we prayed about

whether or not I should go. The next day, my

doctor called me and informed me that he

wanted to help me out as I had been having

such a difficult time and knew that I was a

missionary. He had arranged for the joint

specialist to do a consultation with him over

the phone- for free. After reviewing my

medical chart, she diagnosed me with

Reiter’s Syndrome, which is basically reactive

arthritis to an infection in your body,

commonly after contracting salmonella. It

can recur for as long as a year after initial

symptoms begin to surface. She told me the

only treatment was to take ibuprofen and to

stay off of my feet. I believe nutrition also

plays a huge rule in healing and have talked

with some of my nutritionist friends to come

up with a diet that is right for me at this time.

Having a free consultation was truly a

testament to the faithfulness of God. He has

assured me time and time again that He sees

me, He knows me, and He is very near.

At this point I have been in bed for 20

days. I am now able to keep food and liquids

in my system. Miraculously, I did not become

dehydrated the whole time that I have been

sick. This has without a doubt been a huge

struggle physically and emotionally. SImple

tasks like writing an e-mail, walking to the

bathroom or brushing my teeth have become

taxing. Every morning I look myself

in the mirror, tell myself to “get

better” and force myself to hold my head

up high. I spend my days in contemplative

prayer and have felt flooded with peace at

the most difficult times.

I am not sure how I would be getting

through this right now if it weren’t for my

remarkable husband, who has taken care of

me day and night and simultaneously is

balancing all of his commitments to

PhotogenX and YWAM as well as picking up

some of the slack while I have been unable to

contribute. To my dear family, friends and

community, it has been an immeasurable

encouragement to know that so many are

praying for me.

Please continue to pray as I continue to

heal and repair. Specific prayer points:

:: Please pray for both Steve and I

emotionally as this has been a very trying

time for us.

:: If you know me at all, you probably

know that I reallllllly don’t like to sit still. This

whole laying in bed for days and days has

been difficult for me and I am ready to get

out of bed and be myself again! Please pray

for my mental state, that I would remain

focused, positive and have peace of mind.

:: Pray for my physical body, that I would

heal completely and not have recurring

symptoms. I would very much like to defy the

text books that say I will have ongoing aches

and pains.

Love, Diane

“His grace is

sufficient for me...”

2 Cor. 12:9

Diane’s Health

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What’s New?

The six month PhotogenX Discipleship Training School (DTS) begins next week! Although we will not be involved as much on a day to day basis as we have in past years, we will still be interacting with the students, teaching photography courses, possibly leading an outreach team in the summer and helping with a lot of the “behind the scenes” work that goes into accommodating and training 50 new PhotogenXers.

PhotogenX

DTS

We are excited to announce the release of the first Sex + Money documentary "Webisode".Get a taste of the forthcoming anti-trafficking documentary in which a small film crew follows 5 young American photojournalists around the United States as they document the problems, the causes, the victims and their stories, in search of a solution for modern-day slavery. For more information visit the official documentary site (sexandmoneyfilm.com) and make sure to check back often as we plan to release new webisodes weekly.

FilmSex + Money:

A Global Search for Human Worth

April-September 2010

For information on how to partner with us financially, please e-mail Steve: projectlove1.0@gmail.com

Steve:e-mail: projectlove1.0@gmail.com

blog: www.iamthesrtuggle.blogspot.com

Diane: e-mail: diane.schallert@gmail.com

blog: www.dianeschallert.blogspot.com

Contact

Thanks for

Reading!