Tag Archives: Nelson Mandela

Day 308

A good leader has the power to unite his party while a great leader has the power to unite the entire country – that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 8: 44 PM on day 308 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, spend sixty-seven minutes tweeting about South African charities in honour of International Mandela Day – I wanted to go and help out my community but I couldn’t since both my parents were at work so I did what I could for seven different charities 🙂 – read Using Social Media for Charity: @Nisha360 is making a difference on The Nicky Blog and Causes I Promote on Monologues of a Dreamer only stopping to watch Dr. Phil and feed myself a hotdog for brunch – both of them are good posts and I’m not just saying that because I’m featured in ’em :)– tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck – watch TV, feed myself tapioca and fish curry for dinner, watch some more TV and brush my teeth once more.

This morning I was watching an extended broadcast of Morning Live – South Africa’s most popular breakfast show – which focused on what people around the country were doing to commemorate International Mandela Day and as I was watching it I realized that more than anything else he’s done Nelson Mandela’s greatest legacy is the oneness his name brings to the South Africa and the world. Are you a good leader or a great one?

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 278

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You should celebrate the lives of legends while they’re still alive – that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 7: 45 PM on day 278 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself an egg sandwich for breakfast, drink coffee, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck– feed myself rice and curry for lunch, tweet about my campaign some more – still no luck 🙁 –prepare my Kid of the Week feature for tomorrow, go visit my cousin who had just come back home from university – he wasn’t there he went to the movies with our niece and nephew so we entertained ourselves by watching TV while the adults talked in the living room – feed myself McDonald chicken nuggets and French fries for dinner and brush my teeth once more.

As you know I hold Nelson Mandela in VERY high esteem which is why with only a month to go till his 93rd birthday I have created Happy 93rd Birthday Mr. Nelson Mandela – a Facebook page where people can post messages, pictures etc and share their love for Mr. Mandela with the world – and am asking you to participate. Do the legends of your life before need to die before you recognize them as such?

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 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

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 202

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You should do what you know is right regardless of what anybody else says – that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 3: 10 PM on day 202 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself a banana for breakfast, survive a five hour road trip back to my hometown of Lusikisiki (see picture of our journey below) and eat rice and curry for lunch – I let my mother feed me just this once because I didn’t want to make a mess in my aunt’s living room.

Today when I was in the car on our road trip a friend of mine send me a text via my sister’s cell phone and my father overheard me saying to my sister tell her I got the bread and he asked what’s this about bread so I reluctantly told him that my friend and I were approaching bakeries to see if they’d be willing to donate bread to enable me to make more sandwiches for my housekeeper’s community (if you have no idea what I’m talking about refer to ‘Day 184’) and all he could think to say was I will buy the bread otherwise people will think we are eating the donated bread and in that moment I came to a maddening realization that all my father cared about was his reputation. Are you guided by other people’s opinions or your own intuition?

My 16-year old sister - Neethu - and 10-year-old brother - Kevin - in the backseat of our car

The security area of Nelson Mandela's house in Qunu - his hometown

Day 193

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If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants. – Sir. Isaac Newton

It’s 11: 35 PM on day 193 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, cut my birthday cake (see pictures below) and feed it to myself while watching the Cricket World Cup match: South Africa vs. New Zealand–we lost and are out of the world cup and of course it stings a little but in the bigger scheme of things it’s just a game … people are dying in Japan – and tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – someone who prefers to remain anonymous donated $54.92 – both you and I know who you are thank you for your donation 🙂

Today being my birthday and all I would like to dedicate this post to:

My mother who does things for me that nobody else would do

My father who has taught me everything I need to know about myself to survive in this world

My siblings who never complain even when my parents give me more attention just because I am on a wheelchair

My extended family who show me every day that I am not in this alone

Virginia – our late housekeeper – who has taught me how to love unconditionally

Gerda – my physiotherapist – who expects me to go out and do great things in spite of my disability

Nelson Mandela who has taught me courage of conviction

Oprah who has taught me that you receive more when you give

The cake

The cake out of the box

Me cutting the cake (my eyes appear closed because I am looking down at the cake)

Day 183

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If ever there is tomorrow when we’re not together.. there is something you must always remember. you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. but the most important thing is, even if we’re apart.. I’ll always be with you. – Winnie the Pooh

It’s 9: 04 PM on day 183 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself a grilled cheese sandwich for breakfast while watching the Cricket World Cup match: South Africa vs. Ireland – congratulations to The Proteas – our national cricket team – who are officially in the quarterfinals after their victory over Ireland – bring the cup back for Mr. Mandela boys I am sure he’s rooting for you 🙂 – tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no luck – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, tweet about my campaign some more – no luck – feed myself Chapati – an unleavened flatbread – and vegetable curry for dinner and continue to tweet about my campaign – still no luck – I’m disappointed but it’s okay I’ll keep trying 🙂

Today I was feeling all kinds of awful my body was sore, my muscles were aching and all I wanted to do was sleep but then I remembered what Will Smith said on Oprah great people do what they do hurt and suddenly I didn’t feel so tired anymore because I could see in my mind’s eye images of children dying of cholera. On a bad day do you give up on yourself or look to harness your inner strength?

Day 161

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A saint is a sinner who keeps on trying – Nelson Mandela

It’s 10: 16 PM on day 161 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no luck today – bread and jam for brunch, create a Facebook account for this blog – add http://www.facebook.com/adventuresofme as a friend and tell me what’s important to you and who knows I might just write a post about it – my blog is your blog 🙂 – and feed myself rice and curry for dinner, exercise for 5 minutes and watch The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Today lying on my bed in deep dismay over the fact that nobody had donated I thought to myself it is the global recession people are broke, jobless and have their own children to feed and suddenly I remembered my own story and thought you were broke, jobless and disabled and you still managed to scrounge $82 together to give water to those in need and that’s when I realized that the mere fact that I tried to make a difference was reason enough to smile. Are you a saint who keeps on trying or a sinner who gave up way back when? 🙂

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 82

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“Reading is a means of thinking with another person’s mind; it forces you to stretch your own.” – Charles Scribner, Jr.

It’s 7: 43PM on day82 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself Whole-Grain Bread and Baked for breakfast, continued reading Conversations with Myself by Nelson Mandela –I knew of my country’s history through history books of course but never have I felt the history as I did when I was reading the book – can’t wait to read more tomorrow 🙂 – tweeted with my right-hand to improve my mother skills – it was so frustrating I typed a word, made a mistake, pressed backspace, typed a word, made a mistake, pressed backspace, typed a word, made a mistake, pressed backspace, typed a word, made a mistake, pressed backspace and so on it went for the next 15 minutes until my right-arm started to hurt – exercise for 30 minutes – I was watching my favourite TV show – Chuck – so I didn’t feel a thing 🙂 – and feed myself rice and curry for supper

Before I started reading Conversations with Myself I like many of you had put Nelson Mandela on a pedestal – I was – still am – awestruck by his mere presence on Earth – but reading the first few chapters of the book I realize that Nelson Mandela is just an ordinary man who did something EXTRAORDINARY which suffice to say puts a lot of pressure on me because I too am ordinary. Have you ever wondered what kind of world we would be living in if everybody possessed the same sense of duty that Nelson Mandela has? 🙂