Going to church doesn’t make you a better person – that’s what I learned today.

It’s 7: 00 PM on day 363 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, publish my Kid of the Week feature, feed myself a peanut butter sandwich and scrambled eggs for breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck – watch The Rugby World Cup match: South Africa vs. Wales–we won by a point– set a timeline to do the things I need to do to become phyically independent– I gave myself two months to accomlish the difficult tasks and  two weeks to accomplish the “easy” tasks  (see below)–   feed myself rice and chicken biryaanii for lunch, continue reading Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, exercise for a few minutes, feed myself oranges for dinner and brush my teeth once more.

This morning my mother came into our room and asked us if we wanted to go to church today and my sister and I both said no I could hear the disappointment in her voice so I said it’s what you do outside of the church that matters and that I guess is my message to you guys if you pray –to your God – read your holy book as often as you can, give with whole heart and treat everybody with kindness it doesn’t matter if you go to your place of worship every week. Do you go to church just to say you did?

Timeline to complete all the things I need to do to become physically independent

 To brush my teeth – partially achieved – I can brush my teeth just fine but I need someone to help me lean over the sick so that the toothpaste ends up in the sink and not all over my shirt ‘[MUST BE achieved two Sunday’s from now (October 2, 2011)]

 To sign my name on a document (I never write anything out I always use a computer/laptop) – achieved sort of/needs more practice – I signed for my debit card and it was accepted but when I signed to renew my passport it was denied [MUST BE achieved two Sunday’s from now (October 2, 2011)]

 To type with both hands – needs more practice – I have been typing with only my left hand so long that it’s hard to break [MUST BE achieved two Sunday’s from now (October 2, 2011)]

 To eat and drink by myself – partially achieved/needs more practice – I can feed myself with a spoon and drink from a mug but feeding myself with a fork and knife and drinking from a glass (because it has no handle) is still difficult [MUST BE achieved two Sunday’s from now (October 2, 2011)]

 To push myself around on my wheelchair – needs more practice most of the time I’m too lazy so I ask my family to wheel me around ‘[MUST BE achieved in the next two months (November 11, 2011)]

 To get in and out of bed by myself – not yet attempted because my parents are always around and even if they weren’t I would be too afraid to try because I fall and break my bones ‘[MUST BE achieved in the next two months (November 11, 2011)]

 To go to the bathroom by myself– again not yet attempted because my parents are always around and even if they weren’t I would be too afraid to try because I fall and break my bones ‘[MUST BE achieved in the next two months (November 11, 2011)]

 To bathe myself – attempted/needs more practice – I tried two days ago when my mother was in the hospital with my brother but since I can’t bend my back because there’s a metal rod in it – I had Scoliosis – that proved to be difficult ‘[MUST BE achieved in the next two months (November 11, 2011)]

 To undress and redress myself – attempted/needs more practice – sometimes I can only get one hand out a sleeve other times it’s both and on a really good I can take my whole shirt off ‘[MUST BE achieved in the next two months (November 11, 2011)]

Are we connecting on Twitter? If not, say hi at http://twitter.com/Nisha360

If you’ve given to my cause or you can’t give now, please help me by sharing my cause with others. You can tweet about it like my friend Stan Faryna. This is the tweet he uses: @Nisha360 is a brave, smart young woman trying to make a better world for us all. Please help her do an amazing thing. http://bit.ly/hC7vOu

Stan’s very sweet for saying so, but feel free to write what reflects you best.

Thanks to all my friends out there who are helping me make my dream come true: to make a better world for all of us!