Tag Archives: Charity

Day 447

Children need mothers not martyrs – that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 7: 56 PM on day 447 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself Uppumavu – an Indian dish made of rava. The name is an amalgam of two words : “salt” and “flour – with banana for breakfast, prepare and publish my Disability of the Day feature, prepare and publish my Kid of the Week feature, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck – go visit my grandma at my uncle’s house – I drank juice by myself there one of the proudest moments of my life :)- watch No Greater Love – a movie about love, forgiveness and faith – on DVD, listen to music and tweet about my campaign some more– still no luck.

This morning everybody wanted to go shopping and I didn’t so I suggested to my mother that they leave me with our housekeeper which she reluctantly agreed to but kept saying I’m only going because they need to use my credit card as she walked out the door and it struck me how guilt-ridden she was so to her and all the parents out there I say your kids need mothers not martyrs they don’t want you to sacrifice your whole life for them they want you to be happy because seeing you happy gives them permission to be happy. Are you a mother or a martyr?

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!

Day 446

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People who are different are treated differently but that is not necessarily a bad thing depending on how you look at it – that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 8: 40 PM on day 444 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, go see a dentist – a few years ago I accidentally fell down the stairs at my aunt’s house and as I result of that my bottom-middle tooth turned black and I was hoping to get it fixed but all I got was a cleaning because I have an infection which has to clear before I can get a root canal which is necessary to remove the black spot on my tooth so it looks like I’ll be getting a root canal on January 11, 2012 (we can’t do before then because it takes five days for the infection to clear, we’re going to India on December 8 2011 and the dentist only returns from her holiday on January 10, 2012) whoopi something to look forward to in the new year – feed myself Batura and beef fry for breakfast, prepare and publish my Disability of the Day feature, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck today but Donna (@polipaca) made a $26.92 donation yesterday –thanks Donna 🙂 – feed myself barbecued mutton, salad and potato salad for lunch and watch TV.

This morning when I went to visit the dentist and a dentist – not the one who treated me (a guy old enough to be my grandfather) – said hi, I said hi then he walked over to me and gave me a kiss on the forehead which I would have been offended by in the past thinking I don’t see him kissing anyone else in the waiting room on the forehead (ok I did think that in the beginning) but today I realized how lucky I was to experience the best of humanity for the most part I’ll be it it’s because they think I’m fragile but still. Do you always take things the wrong way?

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

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!

Day 445

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I believe the children are our future
Teach them well and let them lead the way. – Whitney Houston

It’s 6: 51 PM on day 445 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, drink coffee by myself, prepare and publish my Disability of the Day feature, feed myself French fries for breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck –feed myself French fries and carrots for lunch, watch TV and tweet about my campaign some more– still no luck.

A few days ago my brother was watching Legion of Superheroes – his new favorite cartoon – and I looked at him and said you can be a hero too all you have to do is do good remembering that today I smiled because I know that I have planted the seeds of kindness and compassion in him. Are you teaching the children in your life that there’s a hero inside every one of them?

Gratitude Weekly December 2, 2011

Thank you God for always being here for me.
Thank you mommy for helping me do things I have not yet learned how to do.
Thank you daddy for paying for everything I need.
Thank you Neethu –my sister – for kicking me in the butt when I feel sorry for myself.
Thank you Kevin –my brother – for carrying the laptop from the bedroom to the dining room every morning so that I can use it.
Thank you Amanda – our housekeeper – for helping me when mommy and daddy are at work.
Thank you Tilla Brook, Christian Hollingsworth, Maria Savva, Brian Elliot, Chris, Kaiju, Tommy Jameson and Leslie Ramos for retweeting about my campaign.
Thank you Patricia Singleton, Justina Valentine, RockstarsTribe, Brian Elliot, Colette Caddle, Amy Hale, Stan Faryna Susan Mazza, Samantha Bangayan, Jenelle Ramsami, M. Illani Manshoor, M. Faizan, Laura and Scott S. Cooper for tweeting/retweeting links to my blog posts.

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

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!

Day 444

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Your state of being is not determined by the past or the present but rather the hopes you have for the future – that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 7: 20 PM on day 444 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, prepare and publish my Disability of the Day feature, redesign my sidebar – now you can listen to some of my favorite songs thanks to the Cincopa plugin, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, watch TV, feed myself spaghetti with sauce for dinner – I got spaghetti stuck up my nose which was scary at first but funny after I blew a spaghetti strand out of my nose LOL – and brush my teeth once more.

Today I was in the bathroom and my mother came in to help me change and stuff and the whole time she was there I just kept thinking it won’t be like this forever, it won’t be like this forever, it won’t be like this forever because if I thought I would need help changing at the age of forty I wouldn’t have the strength to carry on and that I guess is my message to you guys know that whatever you’re going through will pass and if you need to say it to yourself over and over again. Are the clouds in your sky as dark as the night because you think whatever you’re going through will last forever?

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

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!

Day 443

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Every experience is an opportunity to teach and learn – that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 6: 35 PM on day 443 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck – prepare and publish my Disability of the Day feature, feed myself an egg sandwich for lunch, watch TV and feed myself steamed vegetables for dinner

As you may know my family and I are leaving for India on 8 December 2011 and although I’m excited to see my maternal grandmother (I haven’t seen her in person in ten years) as our departure date draws closer I am getting more and more anxious about how people there are going to react to me (my father’s generation and the one before his are not very accepting of people who are different – gay/lesbian, different color, disabled etc –) but I have decided to look at it as an opportunity to educate people I have a feeling they think people who are different are worth less than they are and if by the time I return to South Africa I can change just one person’s mind about that I will have done my job. Do you look to teach and learn in every situation you are put in?

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

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!

Day 442

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What’s lacking in this world is action– that’s what I learned today 🙁

It’s 7: 18 PM on day 442 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself Corn Flakes for breakfast, practice typing with both hands, prepare and publish my Disability of the Day feature, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign– no luck – watch Love, Wedding, Marriage–a story about a happy newlywed marriage counselor’s views on wedded bliss getting thrown for a loop when she finds out her parents are getting divorced starring Kellan Lutz, Alyson Hannigan and Mandy Moore – on DVD, feed myself rice and curry for lunch, watch TV, tweet some more about my campaign – still no luck – and watch some more TV.

Last night as we were praying together as a family I wondered what would happen if instead of praying every Christian got up and did something for someone else don’t get me wrong I love reading the Bible – my favorite reading is Romans 12: 9-21 – but I think people think all Christians have to do to call themselves Christian is pray, read the Bible and go to church when that is so not the truth it’s not even funny all the things we are taught in the Bible have to do with compassion, forgiveness, non-judgment and giving all of which we might be good at within in the walls of the church question is how many of us practice all those things in our everyday lives. Do you profess to be good in all your ways but fail to step in when you witness injustice?

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

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!

Day 441

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Even if you’re on the right track you sometimes need a kick in the butt– that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 7: 26 PM on day 441 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, drink coffee by myself, feed myself a boiled egg for breakfast, prepare and publish my Disability of the Day feature, practice typing with both hands – I was focused so it wasn’t that hard (see part of what I typed below)– hang out with my brother and sister – my brother was sick and school is out for my sister for the year – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, watch TV, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck – and watch some more TV.

As those of you who read this blog every day probably can tell I’ve been slacking off on practicing how to do things I need to do to become more independent but that is guaranteed never to happen again I have figured out a way to stay permanently motivated all I have to do every time I don’t feel like doing something is remember what my mother said to my physiotherapist on Friday – my physiotherapist had asked my mother if we were going back to India to sell our house there and my mother said no we are not selling the house we are going back there when we retire (I had the distinct impression that I was included in the we that was going to India after they retired which freaked me out enough to say out loud I’m not going to live with you anxious to change the subject she said ok, ok as if to say we’ll talk about this later). What do you do to motivate yourself when you need a kick in the butt?

My name is Nisha and so help me God I will NOT live with my parents for the rest of my life like they expect me to my life is meant for something bigger than that!

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

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!

Day 440

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There are some aspects of your personality you need to grow even if you think it will change you for the worse– that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 7: 06 PM on day 440 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, drink coffee by myself, prepare and publish my Disability of the Day feature, go to church, go shopping – well everybody else went shopping I stayed in the car (my family took turns staying with me) to be fair my dad did ask if I wanted to go but I could tell he wanted me to say no so I did it doesn’t matter anyway because I know this home-body stage of my life won’t last forever I will see the world and meet new people don’t ask me how I know I just do –prepare and publish my Kid of the Week feature, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck – create a user for Holly-Scott Gardner–a high school student from York, UK who just happens to be blind (she and Jenelle Ramsami will be blogging for me on separate pages while I’m in India) – feed myself rice and curry for dinner and brush my teeth once more.

Yesterday my parents invited some people over for dinner and just before one of them–the guest of honor – left she said specifically to me I’ll pray for you in that moment I felt like making a snide comment because she made me feel like I was broken but I kept my mouth shut which I have decided to do never again to jolt people out of ignorance into acceptance and to show them that disabled people can be happy in spite of their disabilities (when people first see me I think they think I am miserable all the time which is so not true it’s not even funny of course it sucks that I can’t take care of myself the way I want to but even that doesn’t dampen my spirits for too long because I’m learning how to do things and know that it’s only a matter of time until I’m completely independent). Are you the kind of person who avoids being rude even when people are stepping all over you?

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

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!

Day 439

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Sometimes you’ve done enough just by being there – that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 5: 34 PM on day 439 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself a chicken nugget sandwich, drink juice by myself, prepare and publish my Disability of the Day feature, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck –draw –my brother wanted to use the laptop I took that as an opporunity to draw which happens to be one of my favorite hobbies can’t say I’m any good at it though LOL 🙂 – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, draw some more and tweet about my campaign some more – still no luck.

Today my grandma came to visit – she always comes on Saturday or Sunday – and while my brother and sister said a few words and went their separate ways I chose to stay because I truly believe that even though she can’t remember me she can feel that I love her. Do you make it a point to be there for people even if you can’t take away their suffering?

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

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!

Day 438

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We’re born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we’re not alone. – Orson Welles

It’s 7: 28 PM on day 438 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, drink coffee by myself, prepare and publish my Disability of the Day feature, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck today but Mary made a donation of $25 last night – thanks Mary :)– feed myself chicken biryani for lunch, go to physiotherapy and tweet about my campaign some more–still no luck.

This morning laying in bed it occurred to me that I have nobody to talk to about the things I’m going through – my mom says that she understands what I am going through and how hard I have to try to do the simplest things but she doesn’t not really if she did she wouldn’t tell people that I do nothing when we go visiting, my dad he barely talks to me because he doesn’t see me as a human being, my sister and brother have their own lives and think I want them to feel guilty for the fact they can walk whenever I talk to them about the challenges I face and my extended family I don’t talk to them much about my trials and tribulations because they really would not know what to say – but then I realized that I would always have me and that I guess is my message to you guys be your own biggest fan because at the end of the day no matter how much you love your family members and friends and no matter how much your family members and friends love you, you are all you’ve got. Do you invest more in your relationships than you can afford to lose?

Gratitude Weekly November 25, 2011

Thank you God for always being here for me.
Thank you mommy for helping me do things I have not yet learned how to do.
Thank you daddy for paying for everything I need.
Thank you Neethu –my sister – for kicking me in the butt when I feel sorry for myself.
Thank you Kevin –my brother – for carrying the laptop from the bedroom to the dining room every morning so that I can use it.
Thank you Amanda – our housekeeper – for helping me when mommy and daddy are at work.
Thank you to my physiotherapist for giving me a hard time for not exercising
Thank you Mary for the donation to my campaign yesterday evening.
Thank you Tilla Brook, Pali Raj, Saul Fleischman, Panos Fellas, M. Illani Manshoor, and Samantha Bangayan, for retweeting about my campaign.
Thank you Patricia Singleton, Justina Valentine, RockstarsTribe, Brian Elliot, Colette Caddle, Amy Hale, Stan Faryna Susan Mazza, Gene J. Mikulka, Samantha Bangayan and Michelle for tweeting/retweeting links to my blog posts.
Thank you to Margot and Michelle –her mom – for creating and emailing me this blog’s new banner respectively (it will be uploaded ASAP)

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

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!