Tag Archives: People

Day 133

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children. ~Native American Proverb

It’s 10: 44 PM on day 133 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself Batura – deep fried bread –for breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no donations were made to my campaign today but on the plus side I just found out three hours ago that my campaign has been extended from March5th 2011 to March 5^th 2012– I feel like jump for joy too bad I can’t LOL 🙂 – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, exercise for 20 minutes and feed myself bun and chicken nuggets for dinner – I forgot it was meat-free for a second and accidently ate chicken LOL although I suppose 2/3 is not too bad for my first attempt 🙂

A few weeks ago I read a blog post called 10 Ways To Go Green And Save Green by @JustDiii (Dian) and subsequently made a commitment to eating three meatless meals every Monday, but one thing led to another and soon I had forgotten all about it until I read How do human CO₂ emissions compare to natural CO₂ emissions by Gpwayne this morning and realized that the future of the planet depended on what we did in the present. Have you ever wondered what would become of our children’s children if we depleted all of Earth’s natural resources? 🙁

Day 132

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You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives. ~ Clay P. Bedford

It’s 10: 02 PM on day 132 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, go to church – I didn’t go up there and tell the congregation about my campaign not because I chickened-out but because I wanted to wait until I heard back from the Firstgiving team as to whether my campaign would be extended or not – hopefully they’ll get back to me but next Sunday so I can make the announcement then 🙂 – feed myself a KFC Twister – a wrap consisting of chicken strips and salad – for breakfast – my sister had to help me out a little because every time I tried to do it the contents of the wrap would fall out from the bottom but that’s okay sometimes asking help shows your strength rather than your weakness 🙂 – tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no donations were made today 🙁 – and exercise for 5 minutes.

Growing up I didn’t see the point in going to school, but today when Kate – my friend on Twitter – told me that she could relate to my story because her twenty-one-year-old daughter suffered from Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome to which I asked what’s Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and a few minutes later she replied a connective tissue disorder and it was in that moment that I finally understood that the primary purpose of an education is not to teach Math, Science or Biology, but rather to instil in you the confidence to absorb as well as question all the information that you receive. Do you still possess the thirst for knowledge that you acquired in the classroom? 🙂

Day 131

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People will not look to change the suffering they do not feel – that’s what I learned today 🙁

It’s 7: 14 PM on day 131 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself bread and egg for breakfast, email the Firstgiving team – I wanted to get my campaign extended to raise more money for The Water Project 🙂 – email The Water Project – I couldn’t find the video links I needed for the water party I’m planning – hopefully they’ll get back to by Monday 🙂 – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours –no donations were made today, but I did get listed under the environmental section of the Groovy News Network – Thanks Kate 🙂 – exercise for 10 minutes and feed myself rice and curry for dinner.

Today I asked this guy on Twitter – I won’t mention his name – to organize a water party and donate the proceeds to my campaign and a few minutes later he replied back saying I don’t even know you and as I read that I thought to myself do you need to know someone to help them and in that moment I realized that the fundamental problem with today’s society is its inability to feel empathy. Are you able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes? 🙂

Day 130

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Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear. ~ Ambrose Redmoon

It’s 8: 14 PM on day 130 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself Oats for breakfast, design posters for the fundraiser that my friends from the UK – @sapphire100 (Emma) and @laura_FilanFan (Laura) are organizing for my campaign –I finished designing both posters now I just have to back from the rest of the gang 🙂 – feed myself pizza for lunch, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours –no donations were made today, but on the plus side I did get to ‘meet’ Jodi Picoult who by the way happens to be one of my favorite authoresses – she was SO nice and when I said I needed to talk to her about something she was quick to offer up her email address – I was SO happy 🙂 – exercise for 10 minutes and feed myself rice and curry for dinner.

Anyone who knows me knows that I can look death in the eye without flinching, but yesterday when my brother suggested that I go up in front of a church full of people and ask for donations I reacted out of fear saying no one will donate to which he responded you never know if you don’t try so in honour of my brother this Sunday I will roll into that church, say what I need to say and conquer my greatest fear. Would you put yourself in the line of fire if it meant helping others? 🙂

Day 129

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When you dismiss a child because of their age and lack of worldly experience you’re doing yourself a great disservice – that’s what I learned today.

It’s 7: 22 PM on day 129 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, design a poster for the fundraiser that my friends from the UK – @sapphire100 (Emma) and @laura_FilanFan (Laura) are organizing for my campaign – I decided to let Emma and Laura choose which one they liked best – I’ll show it to you after I send to them and find out which one we’re going to use – either way it’s going to be a great poster: ) –tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no donations were made today either I don’t know how people sleep well at night knowing that 1 billion people suffer needlessly without clean water everyday 🙁 – and exercise for 10 minutes.

Today my brother opted to stay home from school – it was Athletics Day and my parents knew that they wouldn’t be back in time from work to pick him up from the stadium – so in order to him occupied and out of trouble I asked him to give me some fundraising ideas for my campaign and at first I was just nodding at the appropriate times but then as time went on I began to listen, really listen to what he had to say and to my surprise he had some brilliant and times grandiose ideas – the one I liked the most though was selling t-shirts with The Water Project’s logo on it at our church and when I asked him what was in it for the church he replied we’ll give them 10% of the proceeds and in moment I realized that I was guilty of doing to him what others did to me – defining him by his label. Do you give the children in your life the respect they deserve? 🙂

Day 128

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Be firm on principle but flexible on method. ~ Zig Ziglar

It’s 9: 42 PM on day 128 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, listen to music, design a poster for the fundraiser that my friends from the UK – @sapphire100 (Emma) and @laura_FilanFan (Laura) are organizing for my campaign – it’s not done yet but I’ve already typed out what I to say now all that’s left is the design aspect 🙂 – drink water by myself, watch TV – Dr. Phil was awesome today! 🙂 – tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no luck today 🙁 – feed myself Chapati – an unleavened flatbread – grilled chicken and baked beans for dinner and exercise for 10 minutes.

Today I needed some information about The Water Project to put in my poster so I visited their website only to find out that the ‘Fund A Well For A Church’ ‘option had been replaced by the ‘Fund an Entire Well’ option which meant that I would have to raise $2 000 more than I intended if I wanted to build a well and with realization came complete devastation but a couple of minutes later I made a decision that I wouldn’t even think about the additional $2 000 that I needed to raise to build a well until I’d reached my initial fundraising target of $4 500. Do you make a conscious choice to adapt to whatever situation life throws at you? 🙂

Day 127

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The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living. – Marcus Tullius Cicero

It’s 9: 52 PM on day 127 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, publish yesterday’s blog post – I fell asleep before I could actually click on ‘Publish’ LOL 🙂 – read everything in the media kit I downloaded from thewaterproject.org – the kit is SO cool it’s got info about the organization, posters logos and brochures – tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – I didn’t get any donations through Twitter today but I woke to find that my cousin from Australia had made a donation of $107 and the funny part is I didn’t even ask her – gotta love family 🙂 – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, watch TV, feed myself grilled chicken for lunch, drink Fanta by myself and exercise for 30 minutes.

Today I was sitting in front my laptop doing my own thing when suddenly I remembered my grandpa picking things that looked like looked like little orange beads off a tree for me and placing them in my left hand and even though I knew in my heart that he was living in eternity now I still couldn’t stop the tears from running down my cheeks because I barely knew this man I called my grandpa – he lived in India with my grandma and we lived in South Africa – but then I realized that sometimes love was about quality of memories rather than quantity and with that I was all cried out. When you lose someone you love do you dwell on the one day that they died or focus on all the other days that they lived? 🙂

Day 126

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Your children need your presence more than your presents. ~ Jesse Jackson

It’s 11: 52 PM on day 126 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself a banana for breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no donations were made to my campaign today but on the plus side my friends, @sapphire100 (Emma) and @laura_FilanFan (Laura) have agreed to organize a fundraiser for my campaign 🙂 – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, watch TV and exercise for 10 minutes.

Today as I spent time playing with my brother – wrestling, tickling, etc – I saw the joy on his face and realized that children, just like the rest of us want to know that they are worth somebody’s time. Do you buy your kids presents to make up for your lack of presence? 🙂

Day 124

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When you’re part of a family what happens to you affects everybody else – that’s what I learned today.

It’s 11: 59 PM on day 124 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself sweet potatoes and yoghurt for breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – someone made a $10 donation– I was SO surprised because at time I wasn’t even focused on getting donations LOL 🙂 – feed myself chicken biriyani for lunch, go visiting a couple of people – it was not as boring as I initially thought it would be 🙂 – and feed myself grilled chicken and French fries for dinner.

Earlier this week my father told us that we would be visiting people this weekend and today I woke up to find that my sister didn’t want to go visiting at all and I knew something was wrong so my mother and I teamed up to find out why she didn’t want to go and after hours of poking and prodding she finally came out with the truth and said there are stairs there – referring to the house we wanted to visit – and in that moment I realized that you don’t have to have a disability to be disabled. Do you ever step back and think about how your struggles affect those you love? 🙂

Day 123

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Doing little things well is a step toward doing big things better – Harry F. Banks.

It’s 7: 15 PM on day 123 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself myself Dosa – fermented crepe or pancake made from rice flour and black lentils – and Sambar – a vegetable stew or chowder based on a broth made with tamarind and toor dal – for breakfast, listen to music – Ready, set, don’t go by Billy Ray Cyrus is really good if you haven’t heard it yet you should go listen to it – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – just when I was beginning to think that what I did didn’t make a difference in the grand scheme of things I noticed a $21 donation from a guy I barely knew just goes to that it only takes 5 seconds to turn an awful day into a great one 🙂 – exercise for 10 minutes, watch TV and feed myself bun and chicken nuggets for dinner.

This morning, as I sat at the dining room table staring out at the trees through the window I made a resolution not to see everybody I encountered as potential donors to my campaign but rather as living, breathing human beings who just wanted to be seen and to my surprise the way people interacted with me changed almost instantaneously and although it took me a lot longer than usual to get the donation I learned an invaluable lesson – no one likes feel as though they are just a means to an end. When you do something do you focus on the process or the outcome? 🙂