Tag Archives: Philanthropy

Day 1318: Bill and Melinda Gates: Why giving away our wealth has been the most satisfying thing we’ve done

There are good people in the world – that’s what I keep realizing.

It’s 12 : 15 PM on day 1318 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, pray, read Psalm 9, publish my Disability of the Day feature, feed myself a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast, promote my Eradicate AIDS campaign – on 60%– practice sitting up straight to strengthen my core muscles, stretch my hamstrings and continue promoting my campaign – still on 60% but I know I will reach my goal because God is with me.

A couple of days ago I watched Bill and Melinda Gates: Why giving away our wealth has been the most satisfying thing we’ve done – a Ted Talk in which Bill and Melinda Gates discuss their marriage and their mission to give back – watching this talk you can’t help but be glad that there are people like Bill and Melinda Gates in the world lots of people make money but few of them put it back into the world like Bill and Melinda Gates do. Watch Bill and Melinda Gates: Why giving away our wealth has been the most satisfying thing we’ve done below:

Day 1208: Opening your eyes to all that you have

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No matter how hard you try you can’t get people to see what they don’t want to see- that’s what I keep realizing.

It’s 12 : 07 PM on day 1208 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, read 2 Chronicles 11, publish my Disability of the Day feature, feed myself tomato, onion and capsicum scrambled egg with bread for breakfast, pray, listen to music and hang out with my family.

Yesterday I was talking to someone about money and he kept insisting that he didn’t have money even though I knew for a fact that he had more money than most I was so pissed off because no matter how much you have if you keep saying I don’t have I don’t have then you will never have enough. Do you often try to get people to see what they don’t want to see?

Day 946

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Philanthropy has taught me gratitude and graciousness – that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 12 : 58 PM on day 946 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, pray, feed myself a boiled egg for breakfast, drink milk by myself, practice sitting up straight to strengthen my core muscles, read Leviticus 26, read The End on Chasing Rainbows – I literally wept reading the post I can’t imagine what it’s like to give a child life and have to watch him die it must be like having someone rip your heart out of your chest – publish my Disability of the Day feature, practice typing with both hands, take off my dirty t-shirt and put a clean t-shirt on and stretch my hamstrings.

Today I realized philanthropy has taught me the two G’s of life gratitude and graciousness when somebody says sorry I can’t donate to your cause right now (which has happened many times in my life) I respect that and move on to the next person eventually someone does say yes, of course I will donate to your cause and when that happens I am immensely grateful because I know there are lots of other things they could have done with that money but they chose to donate it to my cause. What have you learned from philanthropy that has helped you in all areas of your life?

I LOVE hearing from you feel free to leave a comment below.

Day 675

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I will get things done even if I cut it a little close – that’s what I keep learning 🙂

It’s 3: 31 PM on day 675 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, work, publish my Disability of the Day feature, feed myself Oats for breakfast, drink Green Tea by myself, work some more and watch TV.

Last night with 1 1/2 hours to spare 10 bed nets were donated as part of my Mandela Day initiative (thank you @RainbowKate, @colettecaddle and @USMMariner, @polipaca and @catvoncat for your contributions and thank you everybody else for spreading the word) I thought I wouldn’t reach my goal not because there wasn’t enough time left on the clock but because my mother wanted to turn off the lights and go to sleep (since I can’t walk my mother has to turn off the light in my bedroom so I have to sleep before she can) it was the funniest thing every time she came into the room I would say ten more minutes mom luckily by the time she came into my room the final time I was informed of a $40 donation made to Nothing But Nets which was all I needed to reach my goal. Do you get things done even if you cut it a little close?

I LOVE hearing from you feel free to leave a comment below.

Day 673

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Where there’s a will there’s a way– that’s what I keep learning 🙂

It’s 6 : 30 PM on day 673 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, publish my Disability of the Day feature, do some research on malaria, work, feed myself a chicken nugget sandwich for breakfast, watch TV, work some more and feed myself Stir Fry for lunch.

Tomorrow is Mandela Day and since I can’t go out and volunteer because my parents have to work I have decided to raise money for Nothing But Nets – a global, grassroots campaign by the United Nations to raise awareness and funding to fight malaria, a leading cause of death among children in Africa – how can you help donate $10 to Nothing But Nets which will be used to purchase a bed net and inform me via Twitter, Facebook or email my goal is to raise a $100 which is equivalent to 10 bed nets. Do you have the will to make a difference?

(Update: I reached my goal – 10 bed nets were donated -)

I LOVE hearing from you feel free to leave a comment below.

Day 559

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What happens on your birthday is a reflection of what has happened your whole life – that’s what I learned today 🙁

It’s 7: 30 PM on day 559 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to prepare and publish my Disability of the Day feature,prepare and publish my Kid of the Week feature, feed myself a uzhunnu vada–a savory Indian doughnut – and chutney for breakfast, brush my teeth, tweet about my 21 For 21 Campaign – no luck – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, watch This Means War – a raunchy romantic comedy starring Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine and Tom Hardy it was basically about two CIA agents who fall for the same girl I really liked it was really funny and the ending was refreshing nobody ended up being the loser 🙂 – at the Hemingways Mall and feed myself a McDonald’s vegetable burger for dinner – I have switched from being vegan to being a vagetarian for lent (being vegan is just to extreme for me when you’re vegan you basically give up everything you eat meat, eggs yogurt, cheese ect) – continue to tweet about my campaign – Justina (@justinav) made a donation (thanks Justina I really appreciate it) (21 x 9 = 189 x 4 = 756 cups of food for the hungry = a very happy twenty-one-year-old) (Note: I extended my campaign to midnight to give more people a chance to donate I will donate all the money raised to the United Nations World Food Programme first thing tomorrow morning).

As you know today is my 21^st birthday and you would think my whole family is with me right now but you know where my father, sister and brother are right now…. they are at the gym – my dad just bought a cake said Happy Birthday and left with my sister and brother – I suppose I shouldn’t have expected anything different it’s pretty much always just been my mom and I although my sister and I are going to the movies this afternoon that’s something I guess, what really makes me sad is that people on Twitter seem to care more about my birthday than my family does (see some of the tweets sent to me below). Do you see the truth of your life every year on your birthday?

margot ‏ @jollydots1

@Nisha360 happy birthday, I hope you have an amazing day!!!!!!!!  Love Margot

Michelle ‏ @michelmme

@Nisha360 happy birthday nisha! Hope you have a great day and may all your dreams come true! Hip hip horaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiii xx

Care-Aware™ Calendar ‏ @Care_Aware

#HappyBirthday to awesome @Nisha360: 1 young woman w/cp who shows, each day, that each of us can #makeadifference!☼ #water

Chrissy Pappas ‏ @ChrissyPappas

Hey @Nisha360, wishing you a wonderful birthday! All the best!

Betsy Cross ‏ @BetsyKCross

Happy Birthday @Nisha360!

Michael Carr ‏ @USMMariner

@Nisha360 @polipaca @BetsyKCross @notjustagranny @steelerbrian @pfellas @HappyOddGirl @wonderoftech > HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Nisha !

Day 558

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Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

It’s 6 : 27 PM on day 558 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, tweet about my 21 For 21 Campaign – no luck – prepare and publish my Disability of the Day feature, tweet about my campaign – no luck – feed myself a Batura and potato curry for breakfast, tweet about my campaign some more – no luck – drink tea by myself, tweet about my campaign some more – no luck – feed myself rice and curry for lunch and continue to tweet about my campaign – Michael Carr made a donation (thanks Michael I really appreciate it) (21 x 8 = 168 x 4 = 672 cups of food for the hungry = a very happy almost twenty-one-year-old).

As you know I’m turning 21 tomorrow and in honour of that I’m going to share with you a list of things I want to do during the course of my life. Take a look:

Bucket List 2: Realistic goals

I want to learn to take care of myself so my mother can take it easy
I want to publish my book The Accidental Philanthropist
I want to be able to pay for everything I need so I don’t have to rely on my parents financially
I want to stop lying by omission (I don’t correct people’s incorrect assumptions for example someone heard that I planned to do a writing course so he asked how are your exams going and I’ll replied fine because firstly the truth takes a long time to explain and secondly I don’t want to hear the condescension in peoples voices when I tell them that I spend my days working as a social media manager, helping people and blogging)
I want to go to Europe to see the sights
I want to go to a Taylor Swift concert
I want to go to a Jason Derulo concert
I want to go to The Script concert
I want to show the world that people who are “disabled” are normal people with hopes, dreams and feelings
I want to use my experiences as a disabled person to help parents of kids who have “disabilities”
I want to continue making a difference in the world

Day 557

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Extraordinary things can happen when ‘ordinary people’ came together with a common purpose – that’s what I was reminded of today 🙂

It’s 5 : 57 PM on day 557 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, prepare and publish my Disability of the Day feature, work, tweet about my 21 For 21 Campaign, drink tea by myself, feed myself a vegetable burger for breakfast, tweet some more about my campaign – Chrissy (@ChrissyPappas) made a donation yesterday (thanks again Chrissy I really appreciate it) (21 x 7 = 147 x 4 = 588 cups of food for the hungry = a very happy almost twenty-one-year-old) – feed myself rice and curry for lunch and brush my teeth once more.

A couple of days ago my brother came from school raving about this video he watched in school called Kony 2012 and upon his recommendation I watched the whole documentary today what surprised me the most was that Jason Russell – the co-founder of Invisible Children Inc and creator of the Kony 2012 video –and I actually had a lot in common we both believe that ‘ordinary people’ who come together with a common purpose can achieve extraordinary things only he is working to save children in Uganda from Joseph Kony – one of the world’s worst war criminals – and I’m working – through various campaigns – to make sure that children all over the world have food, water and everything else they need. Take a look at the video below and you’ll see what I mean about Jason and I having the same message for the world:

Day 556

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Sometimes you’ve got to do something for someone without worrying how it will be perceived – that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 1 : 43 PM on day 556 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, prepare and publish my Disability of the Day feature, work, tweet about my 21 For 21 Campaign – thanks to Panos Fellas (@pfellas) of Children’s Ark UK who made a donation yesterday afternoon and Wayne (@WayneMansfield) of Jindalee Foundation who made a donation this morning (21 x 6 = 126 x 4 = 504 cups of food for the hungry = a very happy almost twenty-one-year-old) – feed myself a vegetable burger for breakfast and watch TV (Note: In case your wondering why I published this post so early today it’s because I have to go to the dentist this afternoon and don’t know what kind of condition I’ll be in when I return (wish me luck)).

As those of you over fifteen may know sometimes you can do something with the best of intentions and it can get taken completely the wrong way which is what I hope will not happen when Mrs. T opens her Facebook inbox to find my message – I suggested to her that she buy her daughter an Ipad and install Proloquo2Go app on it (her youngest daughter has a speech impairment and this app would make it easier for her to communicate) (watch the video below you’ll understand what I mean) – but if it does I will be okay because I will know that I did it to better the life of that girl who nobody in our community even attempts to talk to when we are at community gatherings (at parties and stuff some people would come over and talk to me while totally ignoring her even if she’s sitting two seats away from me and I would think why don’t you talk to her). Do you worry about the outcome of your good deed more than you do about the intention behind it?

Day 555

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Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. ~ George Santayana

It’s 5 : 24 PM on day 555 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, publish my Disability of the Day feature, drink tea by myself, feed myself a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast, tweet about my 21 For 21 Campaign – no luck – continue reading Catching Fire – the second book in The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins – and tweet about my campaign – still no luck does nobody care that someone dies of hunger every 3.6 seconds I guess not 🙁

Today is Human Rights Day in South Africa – a commemoration of the 21 March 1960 Sharpeville massacre, when the police mowed down 69 unarmed people and injured 180 others who refused to carry the hated dompas identity document that was meant only for indigenous Africans – which I believe is the perfect opportunity for us to ask ourselves what we can do to make South Africa a better country as I know that even today not all South Africans have the same opportunities. Are you making mistakes in the present because you failed to learn from the mistakes of the past?