Tag Archives: Perseverance

Day 216

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You appreciate money more when you earn it – that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 10: 39 PM on day 216 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself rice and curry for lunch, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no luck – feed myself a bread and jam sandwich for dinner and tweet about my campaign some more – still no luck.

Today I woke up to find that someone had made a donation to this blog and told my father that I could pay the electricity bill if he’d let me because although my parents had told me that their money was my money I wasn’t like most people of my generation who were more than happy to live off the fruits of their parents labour so I promised myself that I would contribute to the household expenses as soon as I started making any real money and I guess that is my message to all my peers out there who sleep until noon and sit around playing video games the rest of the day you have to have enough pride in yourself to say mom dad I am grateful for all you’ve done in raising me but I think I’ll take it from here. Have your parents robbed you of your self-esteem by giving you a free ride though this life?

Day 215

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You cannot be your mother’s confidant – that’s what I learned today 🙁

It’s 9: 36 PM on day 215 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself a bread and jam sandwich for breakfast, , make sandwiches for the people in our housekeeper’s neighborhood (if you have no idea what I am talking about refer to ‘Day 184’) – it was a nightmare we had to make 6 loafs because 3 wasn’t enough I ended up crying out of frustration which was embarrassing to say the least hopefully it won’t be like this next week:) – tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no luck today – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, watch TV and watch She’s Out Of My League starring Jay Baruchel, Alice Eve, T.J. Miller on DVD – it was about learning to believe that you deserve the best in life and although the storyline was really sweet the raunchiness of it all ruined the movie.

Sitting at the dining table making sandwiches my mom looked at me and said your dad left me in the rain and told me to go into the hospital with someone else – they were meant to go visit this kid who had been in a scooter accident together – he looked at me and said who would go anywhere with you my mother continued wiping her tears with the inside of her palm and in that moment I suppressed the urge to wring my father’s neck and attempted to soothe my mother but after an hour of hearing her whine I was reaching the end of my rope and blurted out either get a divorce or shut up not because I liked or even loved my father but because I didn’t have the strength to carry my pain as well as hers. Do you burden your children with your problems?

Day 214

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What I am looking for is not out there … It’s in me. – Helen Kellar

It’s 9: 07 PM on day 214 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, email Firstgiving to see if I could pay the Firstgiving fees and credit merchant fees out of my own pocket – they usually get to keep 7.5% of whatever is raised but since I offered to pay a 100% of the donations will go towards building a well in Africa/India – I am so happy 🙂 – tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – @bperreault (Bobbi) made a donation – thanks again Bobbi 🙂 – listen to music while feeding myself rice and curry for lunch – it was only the second time in my entire life that I’d eaten alone it and I remembered how lonely it felt the first time so I decided to drown the silence with some noise this time around 🙂 – go to physiotherapy – my physiotherapist is truly the salt of the Earth even though physiotherapy is not the most pleasant of experiences I actually look forward to my sessions because I know that she sees me and not my disability 🙂 – watch TV, feed myself noodles and vegetable curry for dinner, tweet about my campaign some more – no further luck – watch some more TV and continue reading Boundary Lines – the second book in Engaging The Enemy by Nora Roberts.

Today as I was half watching TV and half reading my book it occurred to me that there was no reality show about teens who make a difference which is why I am asking teenagers all over the world to submit stories of their philanthropic efforts by emailing me at adventuresofme@hotmail.co.za the story that I find most inspirational will be featured on an upcoming section of this blog called Teen of the Week (Note: All who wish to be featured must send their submissions along with a picture of themselves before Saturday 12 : 30 PM GMT+2 from next week onwards). Are you looking for change everywhere but within yourself?

Day 213

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It is not how much you do, but how much love you put into the doing that matters. – Mother Teresa

It’s 9: 46 PM on day 213 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 – @uncledorothy (Vanessa) made another donation – thanks Vanessa your support has been overwhelming 🙂 – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, tweet about my campaign some more – no further luck – feed myself Chapati – an unleavened flatbread – and vegetable curry for dinner, continue to tweet about my campaign – still no further luck 🙁 – and watch TV.

Today I was watching a short clip about Japanese fan making on TV and I couldn’t help but be awestruck by how meticulously the Japanese men and women went about doing their work and in that moment I realized that as long as you perceived yourself to be creating art you would always be successful in life. Do you do what you do out of love or obligation?

Day 212

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Having a meltdown isn’t necessarily a bad thing – that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 10: 14 PM on day 212 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself a banana for breakfast, practise wheeling myself around the dining room for an hour, exercise for an hour, listened to music, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no luck – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, start reading Boundary Lines – the second book in Engaging The Enemy by Nora Roberts – watch TV, feed myself Chapati – an unleavened flatbread – and vegetable curry for dinner tweet and Facebook about my campaign – no donation were made but I did decide to name the well Brannan’s Well hopefully none of my donors will have a problem with it (if you have no idea who Brennan is refer to ‘Day 177’)

Today as I was teaching myself how to get around in my wheelchair I accidently got myself stuck in the doorway leading out of the dining room and no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t push myself forward so I just sat there in tears thinking God I know how me being disabled is beneficial for the world inspirational factor and all but what about me I just want to go from one room to another without assistance from anybody and a few minutes after that something came over me and I just decided that I wasn’t going to be the kind of disabled person was a burden on my family and society. Have you ever made a life-changing decision after having a meltdown?

Day 211

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Compassion is sometimes the fatal capacity for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else’s skin. It is the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too. – Frederick Buechner

It’s 9: 10 PM on day 211 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself bun and jam for breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no luck – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, watch TV, feed myself noodles and vegetable curry for dinner and tweet about my campaign some more – ‘Big Sigh’ made a donation – ‘Big Sigh’ I don’t know who you are or how you came across my page but if you’re out there somewhere reading this right now I would just like to say thank you, thank you, thank you 🙂

Yesterday I read on some website that April was Autism Awareness Month in the US and today I made it my mission to learn as much as I possibly could about this developmental disability by watching Youtube videos about it (see below) and what I discovered was that communicating with a person who had Autism was like speaking English to someone who could only understand Chinese which gave me a tremendous amount of sympathy for all those affected by Autism because I knew how difficult it was to be different without having the added burden of a language barrier. Do you have the capacity to feel compassion for those marginalized by society?

Day 201

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There is no I in TEAM. – Unknown

It’s 9: 26 PM on day 201 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 luck – listen to music, feed myself rice and curry for lunch, watched TV while feeding myself bread and baked beans   for dinner and tweet about campaign some more –still no luck.

Today as I watched the Cricket World Cup final India vs. Sri Lanka and heard my parents joyous screams when the match resulted in a victory for India I realized that the reason people were so passionate about sports was because they felt connected to something greater than themselves if only for a few hours. Do you support a specific team to feel a oneness with others?

Day 200

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Two-faced – insincere in dealings with people, especially by being outwardly friendly, but secretly disloyal

It’s 8: 36 PM on day 200 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself a bread and jam sandwich  for breakfast, reply  to an email about my campaign – if all goes well I should be getting a donation  pretty soon 🙂 – tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign  for a few hours – no luck – listen to music, feed myself rice and curry for lunch, go to physiotherapy – it didn’t  that bad considering I hadn’t exercised for the past three weeks – I was SO happy 🙂  – watch TV,  feed myself Chapati – an unleavened flatbread – filled with tomatoes and chili   for dinner and tweet about campaign some more –still  no luck.

As you know I try very hard not to live my life in judgment of others but today when I heard that my uncle was dropping my grandma off at our house – yet again – because he didn’t want to take her to the prayer that he and his family go to every month I thought to myself with OUTRAGE why do these people even go to prayer they are an embarrassment to God and in that moment I realized that being Christian was less about what you did in the church and more about what you did when you left the church. Would you do something that you know to be evil just to protect your reputation?

Day 198

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When all else fails go back to gratitude – that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 10: 42 PM on day 198 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself Spring rolls for breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign  for a few hours – no luck – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, email some people about my campaign – still waiting for replies –  feed myself Chapati – an unleavened flatbread – and vegetable curry  for dinner, tweet about campaign some more –still  no luck – and watched TV.

Today as I was lying on my bed attempting to turn to left-hand side – I was on my back – I remember thinking I hate my body, I hate my body, I hate my body but after a few moments had passed I came to the profound realization that my body – though it didn’t work like everybody else’s – was a capsule for my soul and with that I stopped being such an ingrate. In your moments of frustration do you get mad at life or say thank you God I’m still alive?    

Day 197

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No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots. – Barbara Ehrenreich

It’s 10: 46 PM on day 197 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself a cheese and lettuce  sandwich for breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign  for a few hours – no luck – listen to music, feed myself rice and curry for lunch, hang out with my sister and cousin,  feed myself rice and curry for dinner, tweet about campaign some more –still  no luck – and watch The Oprah Winfrey Show – today’s episode was about Tyler Perry’s horrific childhood and although I was never abused physically or sexually I knew how he felt because every time I saw my father raise his hand to my mother or heard him call her a bitch I felt like a piece of me died 🙁   

As you may know by now I LOVE South Africa with everything that I am however, I find it UNACCEPTABLE that human beings are being decapitated like animals in this beautiful country which is why I am calling on all South Africans to download Shout – a soundtrack featuring  the best musicians in South Africa (see music video below) – by texting SHOUT to 33335 all the proceeds will go to various charities and causes that help in the prevention of crime as well as to help victims of crime.  Do you stay silent about the challenges facing your country because you’re afraid of sounding unpatriotic?