Tag Archives: Charity

Day 484

Sometimes in the process of establishing your identity you can make those around you feel rejected or not needed – that’s what I learned today.

It’s 6: 53 PM on day 484 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself a banana for breakfast, prepare and publish my Disability of the Day feature, practice typing with both hands, change my Twitter background, Facebook picture and start making a blog button with graphics made for me by Margot, feed myself rice and curry for lunch, watch TV, continue making a blog button and feed myself spaghetti bolognaise for dinner.

Yesterday my dad stayed over at my uncle’s – my uncle was out of town and somebody needed to stay with my grandma – and my brother was at a sleepover at my cousin’s house so my mother decided that she would sleep in my room – my sister was sleeping in her own room – I had a complete meltdown and blurted out I feel so claustrophobic I need some space because by doing that my mom was saying I don’t believe you can sleep by yourself and be okay looking back now I can still see how hurt she was when she left to go sleep in her own bed and can understand why she probably felt rejected by me when I said I need some space while all I was trying to do by saying that was assert my independence. Are you establishing your identity at the expense of your relationships?

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 483

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Praise with abandon and criticize sparingly – that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 7: 06 PM on day 483 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself a boiled egg for breakfast, prepare and publish my Disability of the Day feature, practice typing with both my hands, watch TV, feed myself rice and curry for lunch, upload a new banner to this blog and watch some more TV.

As you know I don’t take kindly to any sort of discrimination and I am quick to rip apart any person or company that discriminates but today I am taking the opportunity to thank Target – an American chain store – for using kids with Down Syndrome as models in their nationwide campaign and not making a big fuss about it … YAY Target (Note: I came across this story on Sun-Beams: January 8, 2012). Do you praise with abandon and criticize sparingly or criticize with abandon and praise sparingly?

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 482

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The best time to restart is now– that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 6: 47 PM on day 482 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, prepare and publish my Disability of the Day feature, prepare and publish my Kid of the Week feature, listen to music, feed myself rice and curry for lunch and tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck.

As you know I took a break from learning how to do new things while I was in India but I’m back now and ready to tick off new things on my lists (see below) so that I can live out all my dreams. Is your life on permanent pause?

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 sink so that the toothpaste ends up in the sink and not all over my shirt.

 To sign my name on a document – achieved.

• To type with both hands

• To eat and drink by myself – partially achieved can eat with a spoon and drink from a mug and glass I can’t yet eat with a fork and knife.

• To push myself around on my wheelchair

• To get in and out of bed by myself

• To go to the bathroom by myself

• To bathe myself

• To undress and redress myself

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 481

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If you’re running someone else race you’ll always come out second best – that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 7: 15 PM on day 481 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself egg sandwich and strawberries for breakfast, prepare and publish my Disability of the Day feature, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck –listen to music – God Gave Me You by Blake Shelton is my new favorite song (see lyric video below) – feed myself rice and curry for lunch and go visit my aunt.

Last night two of my parents’ colleagues – a married couple from our community – came to visit and as per usual all the lady’s attention was on my sister asking her if she was ready for her last year of high school the best I got was did you enjoy India but as I watched them talking I realized that my sister would always get more attention because she was doing everything that Indians expected of a seventeen-year-old while people would always think of me as a nobody because I chose to break the mould and make a difference having said that I don’t regret the life I’m living my sister and I are on completely different paths she’s living the life God planned for her and I’m living the life God planned for me… it was never meant to be a competition. Are you putting yourself in a position to be runner-up all your life?

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 480

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Everything is part of a bigger plan…nothing happens at random – that’s what I learned today 🙂

it’s 7: 52 PM on day 480 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to watch TV, brush my teeth, drink pineapple juice – from a glass – by myself, try to add a custom header on this blog made for me by my friend, Margot – I gave her the wrong size by mistake and now it doesn’t fit – prepare and publish my Disability of the Day feature, feed myself rice and curry for lunch and read Love That Max, Chasing Rainbow and Bird on the Street.

Today I looked back on my twenty five days in India and realized that going to a country where there is so much stigma around disabled people and having to say to people there’s nothing wrong with me every time they pitied me has made me more confident than ever in myself. Do you walk in faith believing that everything that happens is for the best or question every experience?

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 478

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It takes just as much time to fix something as it does it to complain– that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 8: 41 PM on day 478 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, watch TV, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – mostly sent thank you tweets in reply to the congratulatory tweets people sent me yesterday for reaching my goal – prepare and publish my Disability of the Day feature, feed myself rice and curry for lunch and take a nap– I wasn’t feeling well.

As you may know I recently went to India from twenty five days – if you have no idea what I’m taking about refer to posts Day 451-Day 475 – to visit my mother’s side of the family and while there I felt the full force of the ignorance of the population people stared, whispered, asked is that the ‘sick’ child with me in the same room and the only time I cried was at night thinking about all the children who lived there who are locked away somewhere not being allowed to dream in that moment I knew I had to do something to create change and realized that God made me disabled so that I could make the lives of other disabled people better so today I’m making a commitment to using my social media platforms – Facebook and Twitter – to raise awareness about different disabilities in countries like India where people don’t have much exposure to people who are different. Do you spend your time fixing or complaining?

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 477

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Perseverance pays off –that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 8: 41 PM on day 477 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, practice sitting properly – my core muscles are weaker than those of average people so I have to practice sitting straight in my wheelchair – watch TV, feed myself scrambled eggs – with a fork – for breakfast, drink Coke Zero – from a grass – by myself, prepare and publish my Disability of the Day feature, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – Carolyn (@carpathia16) made a $200 donation on 12/31/2011 and Chrissy (@ChrissyPappas) made a $1 111.11 today – thanks guys you two are part of the reason I reached my goal three months early 🙂 – watch I Don’t Know How She Does It – a movie which portrays the challenges facing working mothers in an honest but humorous light staring Sarah Jessica Parker – at the Hemingways Mall, and eat Ice-cream with my sister, her friend and her friend’s parents

This morning I logged on to my Firstgiving page to find that I surpassed my fundraising goal –my target was $6 500 I’ve raised $7 256 so far – I am keeping the page open until 3 March 2012 – the closing date of the page- so that people who have yet to donate can have the opportunity to do so – needless to say I was delighted and wondered what would have happened if I gave up all the times I wanted to just goes to show that you should never ever give up. Do you persevere in every aspect of your life or give up when the going gets tough?

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 450

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The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. ~ St. Augustine

It’s 3: 21 PM on day 450 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself Corn Flakes for breakfast, prepare and publish my Disability of the Day feature, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck –feed myself rice and curry for lunch and watch TV

As you may know I’m going to India tomorrow so sadly this is my last post until January 2, 2012 but no fear I will be writing every day while I’m there it’s just that I won’t be able to publish the posts until I return to South Africa – getting an internet connection at my dad’s house might prove to be a hassle – and if that isn’t enough to satisfy you I’ve asked my friends, Jenelle and Holly, to write posts on Guest Posts by Jenelle Ramsami and Guest Posts by Holly Gardner respectively every day while I’m away. Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year to you and yours I hope Santa gives you everything you asked for 🙂

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 449

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You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone– that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 7: 20 PM on day 449 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself Corn Flakes for breakfast, prepare and publish my Disability of the Day feature, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck – feed myself a banana for lunch, take a nap – I’m not feeling well at all – and watch TV.

This morning as I looked out our dining room window at the beautiful trees and flowers in our yard I couldn’t help thinking how much I would miss South Africa when I’m in India don’t get me wrong I can’t wait to see my family over there it’s just that the people here are so nice whenever I go to the mall people come up to me and say you look very pretty today or smile my favorite moment was at church when this woman came up to me and my mom with her toddler and said I hope you don’t mind I wanted to expose my son to people who are different from an early age some of you may wonder why I wasn’t offended by that I wasn’t offended by that because exposure leads to education and education leads to the eradication of ignorance. Do you always think the grass is greener on the other side?

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 448

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It doesn’t matter what people say as long as you know your intention – that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 7: 17 PM on day 448 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself boiled egg for breakfast, prepare and publish my Disability of the Day feature, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck –listen to music, watch TV and feed myself vegetables for dinner.

Yesterday I saw a cousin of mine and the first thing he said to me as a joke was could you pass me a few dollars I know you’ve got a pyramid scheme going which really bothered me although I laughed it off because here I was struggling to do the simplest of things while trying to help others without stealing or lying and it was all just a big joke to him but now I realize that I shouldn’t care about what other people think or say to me because they don’t know the intentions behind my actions almost everything I say and do comes from a place of love, compassion and a desire to help. Do the comments people make weigh heavily on your heart regardless of the fact that you know the intention behind your action?

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!