Tag Archives: Charity

Day 277

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Don’t sweat the small stuff– that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 7: 21 PM on day 277 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself an egg sandwich for breakfast, go to the Home Affairs office to apply for my passport it is said to expire on the 26th of this month – I had to go back to the photographer because I smiled in my pictures the first time around and apparently you’re not supposed to do that for your passport… weird, right? 🙂 – feed myself chicken biryani for lunch, go to physiotherapy – it was super uncomfortable and yet again it was my fault for not exercising for the past two weeks – email Pick n Pay – a big chain store in South Africa – a sponsorship proposal – I tweeted them asking them if they would be interested in donating supplies to Virginia’s Sandwich Run and they emailed me asking me to send them a formal letter (see below) – I am SO excited 🙂 – feed myself chicken biryani for dinner while watching TV, brush my teeth once more and tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – still no luck 🙁 –

Today as I stepped up to take my thumbprint because apparently the signature on my passport application wasn’t good enough I realized that all the time I spent in the car depressed over the fact that I couldn’t sign my own name was because I didn’t want to be different which was stupid because I was different. Are you risking your health, wealth and emotional happiness by obsessing over your small disabilities?

Dear Sir/Madam,

My name is Nisha Varghese, I am a 20-year-old from East London who started making sandwiches for my housekeeper’s neighborhood in an effort to end hunger in my community and I would like Pick n Pay to be the chief sponsor of this initiative which currently feeds 17 people a week. Any assistance you could provide in this regard would be greatly appreciated.

Yours sincerely,

Nisha Varghese

http://nisha360.wordpress.com

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 276

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Blessed is he who lives in the present but never forgets the past – that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 7: 38 PM on day 276 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself brown bread and baked beans for breakfast, hang out with a mutual friend of mine and my sister’s, feed myself barbequed chicken, potato salad and green salad for lunch,  watch the Adjustment Bureau at the  Hemingways Mall – it was a sci -fi-romance about love and fighting for freedom of choice I would give it 5/10 – watch TV,  feed myself barbequed chicken, potato salad and baked beans for dinner, brush my teeth once more and tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – still no luck 🙁 –

On this day thirty-five years ago a group of South African youths took to the streets in protest of the introduction of Afrikaans as the medium of instruction in local schools and in honour of that I would like to share with you some footage of that day which is now an annual public holiday that we call Youth Day. Take a look:

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 275

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One should see the world, and see himself as a scale with an equal balance of good and evil. When he does one good deed the scale is tipped to the good – he and the world is saved. When he does one evil deed the scale is tipped to the bad – he and the world is destroyed. – Maimonides

It’s 7: 29 PM on day 275 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself a banana for breakfast, make sandwiches for Virginia’s Sandwich Run – I decided to make the sandwiches during the week because I never know if our housekeeper will show up on Saturdays anyway I would like to take this opportunity to thank my sister for helping out today … I love you sweetheart you are truly a masterpiece in the making 🙂 – tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck 🙁 – watch TV, feed myself rice and curry for lunch, watch some more TV feed myself a banana for dinner and brush my teeth once more.

A few months ago I promised myself that I would donate 25% of my earning to charity when I started earning some money and although I can hear my father in the back of my head saying are you nuts you can’t give away 25% of your money this is only your second paycheck I will stay true to the promise I made to myself because at the end of the day if all we do is take and take and take some more there will come a day when the world will have nothing left to give. Are you tipping the scale to the good by giving to the world more than you take?

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 273

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When you know you’re doing the right thing the negativity around you cannot touch you – that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 7: 30 PM on day 273 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck 🙁 – feed myself a chicken nugget sandwich for breakfast, watch TV, feed myself rice and curry for lunch, tweet about my campaign – still no luck 🙁 – feed myself a banana for dinner and brush my teeth once more.

Yesterday while we driving back from my niece’s birthday party my father and I got to talking about the money I made from this blog and I remember saying I’m going to use half of it to make sandwiches to which he responded as if to undercut me sandwiches don’t double and I came back with when you give it comes back to you although it is only now that I understand the truth of that statement because every time I give I always seem to get something in return even though I don’t expect it. Are you easily swayed by the words of others?

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 271

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Yes, disappointment over perceived unfairness, injustice, promises not kept, tends to go hand in hand with increasing prosperity. Expectations are dashed. What can I say! – Mary Douglas

It’s 7: 28 PM on day 271 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself bread and chili chicken for breakfast watch TV, have lunch with my extended family at a Chinese restaurant – Sushi was an experience a horrible experience but an experience nonetheless LOL 🙂 – tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign –Mark Baker made a donation – Mark if you’re out there somewhere please know that I REALLY appreciate your random act of kindness 🙂 –feed myself rice and chili chicken for dinner, brush my teeth once more and watch some more TV.

Yesterday I went to bed with a list in my head of all things I was going to do today so naturally I was deeply distraught when I realized that I wouldn’t be able to make my weekly sandwich run due to the fact that our housekeeper, Nandipha, failed to show up for work but now I understand that in life not everything is going to go according to plan. Do you totally freak out when your expectations are dashed?

Day 270

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It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership. – Nelson Mandela

It’s 7: 12 PM on day 270 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign –at last the amount raised so far has moved up– thanks yet again to Stan (@Faryna) who has made a FOURTH donation :)– prepare my Kid of the Week feature for Sunday, feed myself rice and curry for lunch, watch TV, feed myself bread and chili chicken for dinner, watch some more TV and brush my teeth once more.

As you know one of my greatest passions in life is giving and getting other people involved in giving which is why I was SO happy to hear that Jack’s (@drjackking’s) daughters, ages 4 and 9, wanted to help me with Virginia’s Sandwich Run – thanks girls you are AWESOME! Do you follow from the front or lead from behind?

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 269

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We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
— Oscar Wilde (Lady Windermere’s Fan)

It’s 7:47  PM on day 269 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself a polony sandwich for breakfast watch TV, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign –no luck but I will NEVER EVER give up because I know that the world can be better than it is :)– watch some more TV, feed myself a bread and jam sandwich for dinner and brush my teeth once more.

Last night before I went to bed I visited Love that Max and read Please, stop staring—my son is not a freak. He is just a kid, even if he has some challenges your child doesn’t. He may not notice you are staring, but I do, and it makes me uncomfortable and, at times, sad. Someday, my son may very well notice the stares, and the last thing I want is for him to feel like an outsider in this world. He already has enough adversity to overcome. Treat him as you would any kid: say hello, joke with him, ask what his favorite color or food is. Do anything but stare. Please, don’t stare. – an excerpt from a blog post called What moms of kids with special needs want other moms to know – and since I was too sleepy to leave a comment after reading it I would like to take this opportunity to say to Ellen – Max’s mom – and all the other moms out there who have kids with special needs having special needs myself I have experienced the nasty stares and the whisperings behind my back and I won’t lie it used to bother me in the past but now every time I catch people staring at me I think to myself they should stare I am so pretty. Have you taught your children that they can look up at the stars even when in the gutter?

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 268

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Carpe diem! Rejoice while you are alive; enjoy the day; live life to the fullest; make the most of what you have. It is later than you think. – Horace

It’s 8: 50 PM on day 268 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself a chicken nugget sandwich for breakfast, create and publish Virginia’s Sandwich Run only stopping to feed myself rice and curry for lunch – I spent three whole hours trying to get the page title in the center but in the end I decided that it didn’t matter where my title was as long as my message was clear 🙂 – watch TV, help my brother with his homework – to Laura (@laurajteacheroz) I totally have a new respect for what you do I only had to do  it for an hour and I felt like pulling my hair out LOL 🙂 – feed myself Puri and chicken curry for dinner, brush my teeth once more and tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – still no luck 🙁

Yesterday I heard the story of eighty-two-year-old twins, Helen and Ellen, who started The Love Kitchen – a non-profit organization dedicated to providing meals, clothing and emergency food packages to the homeless, homebound and unemployed people of Knoxville, USA – twenty years ago and that has inspired me to stop procrastinating and launch Virginia’s Sandwich Run – a page on this blog dedicated to our late housekeeper, Virginia, which aims to raise enough money to make 48 sandwiches a week for the people in our current housekeeper’s neighborhood – today regardless of the fact that I don’t have enough time to do so. Do you postpone making your dreams come true because you don’t have all your ducks in a row?

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 266

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You are what you stand behind– that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 7: 20 PM on day 266 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, give our housekeeper computer lessons (see next paragraph to understand why) – she’s really sharp it’s a shame she had to quit school because she got pregnant and to make things even more tragic her son didn’t even live to see his second birthday 🙁 – feed myself chocolate muffins and chicken nugget sandwiches for lunch, watch TV, feed myself an orange for dinner tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign –no luck so far :(– and brush my teeth once more.

As you may or may not know the Nelson Mandela Foundation launched Mandela Mondays – an initiative which aims to promote community service by urging citizens of the world to do something every Monday to make the world a better place – was launched on 1 June 2011 and in honour of that I am going to give our housekeeper – Nandipha – computer lessons sometime today. How will you commemorate Mandela Monday?

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!