Tag Archives: Clean Water For All Campaign

Day 96

You bring who you are to everything that you do – that’s what I figured out today 🙂

It’s 8: 16 PM on day 96 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself All-Bran Flakes for breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few minutes –I wish I could say it helped and that somebody opened his/her heart and donated $1 000 unfortunately for me that didn’t happen but hey tomorrow is a brand new day 🙂 – go to the Hemingways Mall with my mother and sister – it was SO much fun I only hope that my dad won’t keel over from a heart attack when the credit card bill comes in at the end of the month LOL 🙂 – feed myself a chicken burger and French fries for lunch, drink a glass of Sprite by myself, go say goodbye to a family in our community who are emigrating to Australia – everybody was fine until we were about to leave then the sadness crept into all our voices 🙁 – exercise for 15 minutes –I was watching the movie Knowing starring Nicolas Cage while doing so I didn’t feel a thing a thing 🙂 – and feed myself two slices of Whole-grain bread for dinner

On the drive back from the Mall I remembered buying a charm bracelet in support of Activism Against Domestic Violence and wondered why opportunities to be of service seemed to follow me everywhere I went and it occurred to me that it had nothing to do with opportunity and everything to do with me – it didn’t matter whether I was at home or at the mall I attracted philanthropy. What do you attract? 🙂

Day 95

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“Don’t judge a book by its cover” – American Proverb

It’s 8: 39 PM on day 95 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself Chapati – an unleavened flatbread – and chicken curry for breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for most of the day – raised $65 –I don’t know if the people who made the donations would want me to reveal their identities so I won’t but I would just like to take this opportunity to thank them from the bottom of my heart – who knew people I’d never met would end up giving me the best Christmas present EVER 🙂 – drink a glass of Coke by myself – I didn’t even spill a drop I am SO proud of myself 🙂 – feed myself curry and rice for lunch and exercise for 5 minutes – the bones in my leg started creaking loudly so I stopped because I thought I broke a hip or something LOL 🙂

A few weeks ago we – my family and I – went to a party a few hours after we got there the guest of honour came to exchange pleasantries with me she said so what do you now and I replied I study and read a lot and she looked at me her eyes full of pity and said oh and in that moment I was so temped to tell her all about my philanthropic efforts because I knew that the look of pity on her face would be replaced by one of aw and amazement but then I remembered Matthew 6:3 – but when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing – and suddenly I didn’t feel the need to show her up anymore. Do you use what you do to make yourself look better in other people’s eyes? 🙂

Day 94

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Others will follow your footsteps easier than they will your advice. – Unknown.

It’s 8: 28 PM on day 94 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself Oats for breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for most of the day – still no luck 🙁 –help myself in the bathroom – the only part I needed help with was getting myself off and on the wheelchair – I’m SO proud of myself 🙂 – feed myself curry and rice for lunch and exercise for 20 minutes – I looked like an idiot doing the bicycle but I was having too much fun to care LOL 🙂

Anybody who knows me knows that I try not to live my life in judgement of others because I believe that those who judge are just inviting judgement on themselves but after watching the video of Miley Cyrus stoned out of her mind on Bong – a.k.a Stivia – I would feel remiss if I didn’t say that she has made a REALLY bad decision and in doing so has set a bad example for her legions of young fans around the world and with that said I solemnly swear NOT to take drugs, drink, smoke or have sex out of wed-lock and it is my hope that other pre-teens and teens will follow in my footstep. When you want something done do you lead by example or give instruction? 🙂

Day 93

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Celebrity-worship and hero-worship should not be confused. Yet we confuse them every day, and by doing so we come dangerously close to depriving ourselves of all real models. We lose sight of the men and women who do not simply seem great because they are famous but are famous because they are great. We come closer and closer to degrading all fame into notoriety. – Daniel J. Boorstin

It’s 6: 35 PM on day 93 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself Appam – bread made of rice batter – and beef curry for breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no one has donated so far today but I did make the $25 donation on behalf of the person that sent me money via PayPal yesterday – I wanted to get the money out of my account and into my campaign ASAP so as to avoid even the appearance of impropriety – feed myself myself Batura – deep fried bread – for lunch, help my brother make Custard – every time he tested the mixture he had the same thing to say needs more sugar LOL 🙂 – attempt to get myself off the wheelchair and onto the bed – I love my mom but every time she sees me struggling to do something she just comes in and does it for me – it makes me feel so incompetent 🙁 – and exercise for 10 minutes – I should really buy my brother a gift of some sort thanks to him the exercise session didn’t long – he was on my mother’s back – quite literally – LOL 🙂

Yesterday while on Twitter I was excited to read of a man in Berlin who was cured of HIV by means of a stem cell transplant however, my excitement quickly turned to deep dismay when I realized that more people were taking about The Golden Globes then a man being cured of HIV don’t misunderstand what I’m trying to say I fully acknowledge that everybody has the right to freedom of speech and I would NEVER dream of infringing on that right all I’m trying to say is that with a right to say what you want to say comes a responsibility to say things that will make this world a better place. Is it just me or have people lost sight of what’s really important? 🙁

Day 92

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“The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in.” – Morrie Schwartz

It’s 6: 43 PM on day 92 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself Appam – bread made of rice batter – and chicken curry for breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for most of the day –someone made a $25 donation to my campaign via PayPal which I will upload to my page as soon as my dad gets back from wherever he is – I used his credit card to make donations on behalf of those who send me contributions via PayPal – feed myself rice and curry for lunch – and exercise for 20 minutes – my mother went easy on me today when I said we were done she just let it be truth-be-told I think that she was just too tired to argue with me LOL 🙂

A few weeks ago, my cousins – let’s call the oldest Anna and the youngest Christina for the purpose of this blog – came to visit while I was wring a blog post about how sad I was that I wouldn’t be attending Christina’s wedding I knew Christina’s curiosity would get the better of her so I copied and pasted everything I wrote onto a new post on WordPress and closed the Word document – or so I thought – a few minutes later I clicked on something by accident and the Word document popped up and despite my best efforts to close it before she got a chance to read what I wrote she had already read it – I thought I would die at that very moment LOL 🙂 – but after the embarrassment faded and the colour of my cheeks returned to its normal shade I realized that having feelings and not expressing them is equivalent to not having any feelings at all. Are you afraid to express your feelings for fear of rejection? 🙂

Day 91

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You think you’re alone, but you’re not the only one – Unknown.

It’s 5: 00 PM on day 91 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself Sweet potatoes with a dip consisting of yoghurt, onion and chilli for breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – something happened while I was tweeting I was stuck by the crushing realization that unless you’re celebrity or someone in a position of power most people will blow you off when you ask for a donation – I thought I would try my luck and ask Alyssa Milano (the actress who played Phoebe on the popular TV show Charmed) for a donation only to find out that she too had started a fundraiser for Charity Water and raised $19 220. 38 with 18 days still remaining till the close of her campaign – don’t get me wrong I am very happy that Alyssa is using her influence to change lives but I just find it frustrating that when Alyssa asks people donate freely whereas, I could ask a thousand people and have no one donate 🙁 – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, exercise for 30 minutes – I was in so much pain but I just kept saying without pain there would be no pleasure over and over in my head and before I knew it, it was over 🙂 – and practise picking up the newspaper – every time I picked up the paper I had put my hand on a hot iron – it was like there was a civil war going on between my muscles – not fun at all 🙁

We all have days when we want to scream, yell and throw things at the wall and today as I was struggling to pick up the paper I thought to myself who has to practise picking up the paper and then I realized that there are thousands if not millions of people worldwide have Cerebral Palsy and although I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy I found great solace in the fact that I was not alone in my struggles and this I guess is the massage I’d like to pass onto to you – whatever you’re going through in your life there’s someone somewhere who’s going through the exact same thing you are. Have you ever had a shared experience with someone who you thought you had nothing in common with? 🙂

Day 85

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Love your country. Your country is the land where your parents sleep, where is spoken that language in which the chosen of your heart, blushing, whispered the first word of love; it is the home that God has given you that by striving to perfect yourselves therein you may prepare to ascend to him. ~ Giuseppe Mazzini

It’s 5: 58 PM on day85 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself Oats for breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for most of the day – I don’t know how Non-Profit Organization do this on a daily bases –when I started this I thought all I would have to do is set up my Firstgiving page and tell people about it and they would donate boy was I WRONG LOL :)– feed myself curry and rice for lunch and exercise for 10 minutes – today was a GREAT day I barely felt any pain or discomfort 🙂

When people think South Africa they think Nelson Mandela, Table Top Mountain, Robbin Island all of which are an integral part of South Africa as a whole but there is more to South Africa then our many Nobel laureates and World Heritage Sites we have:

A variety of wildlife (which contrary to popular belief do not roam around free in the streets but rather are in zoos or national parks)
Beautiful beaches
Good food
The finest wine
Great music (see videos below)
Wonderful movies (Tsotsi won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year in 2006)

Day 84

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If what you’re doing isn’t working then do something different – Dr. Phil C. McGraw

It’s 10: 43 PM on day84 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself a bag of chips for breakfast, learn about Exact Equations – I am so happy I’m almost done with Calculus 🙂 – watch the movies Legendary and Prince and Me 4 – I whole-heartedly recommend Legendry it’s all about showing up for life – feed myself banana for lunch, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – still no new donations – I just want to SCREAM 🙁 – drink tea by myself, feed myself Pizza for supper –attempted to change into a clean t-shirt – I got my head out but didn’t have much luck with doing the same with my arms but hey tomorrow is another day 🙂 – and exercise for 10 minutes – a big shoutout to my sixteen-year-old sister – Neethu – for helping me out with my exercises today – I know that I get most of mommy’s attention because of my disability but please know that you are NOT invisible – I SEE you 🙂

A good leader must be able to adapt to the current situation – change what’s not working and continue with what is – I learned that yesterday when I was reading Conversations with Myself – a book by Nelson Mandela – and with that said I have decided to change tactic slightly with regards to how I get donations for my campaign – I am looking for a sponsor who will donate $10 each time someone tweets for example, Wal-Mart Water Challenge to Wal-Mart. If you’re interested in sponsoring my water challenge then leave a comment with your contact information or email me at nishavarghese_1991@hotmail.com and I will get back to you ASAP 🙂

Day 83

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“Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible.” ~ Scott Williams

It’s 8: 49PM on day83 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself Sweet Potatoes with an Onion and Chilli dip for breakfast, continued reading Conversations with Myself by Nelson Mandela – on page 62 I could literally feel how torn he was between his family and his country – it was heart-breaking 🙁 – feed myself curry and rice for lunch, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no new donations as yet but someone did promise to make a donation tomorrow – I am SO happy!!!! 🙂 – feed myself Semi-homemade Pizza for supper – we bought pre-made bases and added toppings – drink a cup of tea by myself – I so happy this time I didn’t even spill a drop on myself 🙂 – and exercise for 15 minutes – my mom and I were arguing about whether it was right or wrong that my uncle and aunty didn’t tell my granny that they were going to India for my cousin’s wedding just because they didn’t want to take her – I was ADAMANT that they were wrong – I can’t get over how badly people treat their parents these days 🙁

Growing up I always had this feeling that I was meant to be great and whenever times got tough – as they often did in our house with my parents beating up on each other – both figuratively and literally – I would close my eyes, count backwards from 10 – 10, 9, 8 7, 6, God has a bigger dream for you then you have for yourself – and today I woke up and realized that I am every bit as great as I once thought I would be and the best part is that I don’t believe that I’ve even stretched the surface of how great I could be my point is faith is not something you only have when your life is all moonshine and roses… faith is believing even when you have every possible reason not to. Is your faith conditional on your circumstance? 🙂

Day 81

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The road to hell is paved with good intentions – Proverb.

It’s 7: 28 PM on day81 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself Upma – a south Indian dish made of rava – and beef curry for breakfast, fix my Facebook button – if you want to get to know the real me add me on Facebook – I am an open book open for all the world to read 🙂 – spend THREE hours tweeting about my Clean Water For All Campaign – I am so frustrated it’s like all of us are waiting for someone to come and fix all the problems of the world only we don’t realize that each one of us is that somebody – feed myself Custard for lunch – not the most nutritious of lunches but it was yummy nonetheless 🙂 – continued reading Conversations with Myself by Nelson Mandela –just in the first 10-15 pages I began to realize how much respect Mandela had for the leaders who came before him and that is something that I believe is sorely lacking in today’s politics and the world at large – feed myself rice and curry for supper and exercise for 15 minutes – today’s session was just right – nor too painful and not too pleasurable kinda like the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears LOL 🙂

Today as we were having supper I saw my brother – who is my 10kg’s overweight – reaching for a fizzy drink inside the fridge and I said don’t drink that have you see your stomach – I know, I know I am a horrible person – what I really meant to say was I love you want you to be healthy and in retrospect I probably should have suggested an alternative to the fizzy drink – I feel like the scum-of-the-Earth right now 🙁 Have you ever said something that came out all wrong?