Tag Archives: South Africa

Day 241

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It is sweet to serve one’s country by deeds, and it is not absurd to serve her by words. – Sallust

It’s 8: 11 PM on day 241 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself a  chicken hotdog for breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours –no luck this morning but Galen – an adoptive mother of TEN kids with special needs – made a donation yesterday evening – I love you Galen you give new meaning to the word SPECTACULAR 🙂 – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, watch TV, tweet about my campaign some more – still no luck 🙁 –and brush my teeth once more.

As you may or may not know Table Mountain located in Cape Town, South Africa is one of the twenty-eight contenders vying to be one of the seven natural wonders of the world and although I did my patriotic duty by voting I doubt my vote is all it will take to make Table Mountain the ultimate champion which is why I’m asking you to log on to http://www.votefortablemountain.com/ and vote. Here’s how:

  • Step 1: Click on the ‘or vote online now’ tab
  • Step 2: Select the seven candidates that you feel are most deserving of the title ‘Natural Wonder of the World’
  • Step 3: Fill in the registration form
  • Step 4: Click on the link in the confirmation email that is sent to you

Are we connecting on Twitter? If not, say hi at http://www.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://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/nisha-varghese/nishavarghese

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 208

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It doesn’t matter how old you get what you parents say will always hurt – that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 9: 55 PM on day 208 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself bun and baked beans for breakfast, make sandwiches for people in my housekeeper’s community (if you have no idea what I’m talking about refer to ‘Day 184’ ) – everything went off without a hitch I guess it’s true what they say there’s a first time for everything LOL 🙂 – tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no luck – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, listen to music, watch TV, feed myself Chapati – an unleavened flatbread – and tomato chutney for dinner and tweet about my campaign some more – still no luck.

Today my mom and I got into an argument and although I don’t remember what it was about I will never forget feeling like a ten-year-old in a twenty-year-olds body when she said all you have to do is lie around. Do you inadvertently hurt your children with your tongue?

Day 204

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Words are like bullets: when well aimed, they have a pretty hard effect. – Unknown

It’s 4: 25 PM on day 204 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to survive a five hour road trip back to East London – the place I call home.

Yesterday our hometown of Lusikisiki was plunged into darkness so we started talking and Kevin – my ten-year-old brother – said with tears in his eyes you’re the reason I’m fat every time I eat something I wonder what you’re going to say and because of that I don’t even want to eat anymore and in that moment I saw life thought his eyes and couldn’t hold back the tears I just kept saying I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Are you shooting somebody in the heart every time you open your mouth?

Day 203

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Being in a family is all about compromise – that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 6: 11 PM on day 203 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to go visit my dad’s cousin and dad’s cousin and aunt in Port Edward and come back to Lusikisiki.

After visiting my dad’s cousin and aunt we went to the arcade in the Wild Coast Casino (see pictures below) and although I would rather have shot myself than be there as we went to buy Ice-cream I realized that my wants and needs weren’t the only ones that mattered so I tried my best to enjoy the experience. Are your familial relationships in taters because you are unable to compromise?

My brother - Kevin - playing Deal or No Deal

Me watching my brother play Deal or No Deal

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 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?    

Day 187

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People who feel insecure within themselves will try to tear you down – that’s what I learned today 🙁

It’s 10: 58  PM on day 187 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, 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 relatively drama-free morning with the only snag being that there wasn’t enough foil paper but that too was not a problem without a solution we decided to stack the  sandwiches on top of each other – a HUGE thanks must go to mom who helped me every step of the way – I LOVE you mommy 🙂 – feed myself a bread and jam sandwich for breakfast while watching TV – food tastes better when you eat after you give to other people 🙂 – feed myself rice and curry for lunch  and  tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign only stopping to feed myself Spring rolls for dinner – @sharoneden (Sharon) made a donation of $53.85  – thanks again Sharon 🙂  

Today as I sat at our dining table buttering the bread for the sandwiches my mom and I were making my dad came up behind me and said why don’t you do two  first and in that moment he made me feel so incompetent so I said if you’re not doing anything shut up and although I don’t regret saying it I do regret the way I said it because those words were unbecoming of me. Are your insecurities causing you to be mean?

Day 184

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If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one. – Mother Teresa

It’s 10: 24  PM on day 184 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself bread 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, exercise for 5 minutes, tweet about my campaign some more –   still  no luck – it was the saddest thing every 30 minutes I would click ‘Refresh’ in the hopes that someone had made a donation only no one did 🙁 – feed myself Chapati – an unleavened flatbread – butternut and vegetable curry  for dinner and watch TV

Today our housekeeper, Nandipha came to me and asked how much it costs to attend the schools that my brother and sister go to and I replied to go to Selborne Primary – the school that my brother goes to – it costs R6 000 per month and to go to Clarendon High – it costs R10 000 per month and after I answered her question I was curious as to why she wanted to know how much it costs to go to a private school because I knew that she had already finished school so I asked why do you ask and she replied my cousin is moving here from Johannesburg and she wanted to go to the best school that there was and since your brother and sister do go to those schools I thought I’d asked you only now that I know how much it costs I’ll have to tell her to look somewhere else because those schools are too expensive and in that moment I knew that I had to help Nandipha’s community in some way  so I decided that I would make some bread and jam sandwiches on Saturday and have Nandipha hand them out to her hungry neighbors.  In your quest to change the world have you forgotten that the smallest things can make the biggest difference?

Day 169

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Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted. — Randy Pausch (The Last Lecture)

 It’s 9: 04 PM on day 169 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself  a banana for breakfast, watch TV while feeding myself a chicken polony sandwich for a snack,  tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no luck  –  feed myself rice and curry for lunch, exercise for 5 minutes,  tweet about my campaign some more – still no luck – send the priest that we had dinner with about a week ago a link to my campaign – hopefully he won’t tell my parents because my explicitly told me not to ask people in our community for donations but I don’t know what else to do it’s not like I can spend the whole day at the mall asking people for donations or organize a fundraiser all by myself – they would KILL ME –figuratively speaking – if they found out I sent the link to my campaign to a priest with the intention of getting a donation –      feed myself rice and butternut for dinner and watch The Oprah Winfrey Show.

 I have always had this theory that everything you go through has something to teach you and looking back now I can prove it: cerebral palsy has taught the power of perception – all my life I had wanted to be like everybody else but then I realized that maybe just maybe God made me different so that I could have the freedom to be extraordinary –  my tumultuous relationship with my father has taught me to love myself from within – ever since I could remember I had been waiting for my father to look me in the eye and say I’m sorry for treating you differently just because you are different I love you just the way you are and then one day not so long ago I decided to stop waiting for my father to come to his senses and start accepting myself and I won’t lie knowing that you don’t need acceptance from anybody else and living it are two very different things there are some days  when  I ache to be seen by my father not as a disabled person who needs help all the time but rather as a human being who needs to know that her daddy  loves her – and last but not least my philanthropic efforts have taught me perseverance –before I started my Clean Water For All Campaign I had tried to raise $1 000 for UNICEF I must have asked all the companies in South Africa all of whom sent me  long but polite rejection letters saying thanks but no thanks and as I look back on it today I realize that the reason I didn’t reach my goal last time was because I gave up too easily something as you can see I have not done this time around. Have you learned more from an experience than you have from actually getting what you wanted? 🙂

Day 164

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To become truly great, one has to stand with people, not above them. – Charles de Montesquieu

It’s 11: 01 PM on day 164 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 – feed myself  a chicken polony sandwich  for brunch,   exercise for 5 minutes while watching the Cricket World Cup match: South Africa vs. West Indies – congratulations to The Proteas – our national cricket team – you guys did AWESOME  South Africa loves you – special mentions must go to AB de Villiers and debutant Imran Tahir both of  whom played EXCEPTIONALLY well – keep it up guys 🙂 – and feed myself   Chapati – an unleavened flatbread – and chicken curry    for dinner.

Today I asked my friend @pamslove (Pam) if she could help me raise the remaining $3691.31 that I still need to build a well in Africa or India  and she told me she would happy to retweet my blog posts and that’s when I came up with the three way in which YOU could help too you could: log on to http://www.firstgiving.com/nishavarghese and make a donation, organize a fundraiser at your workplace/church/school (Note: if you do organize a fundraiser make sure you check the website on the day of the fundraiser because the ‘Total raised so far’ changes almost every day) or help spread the word by sharing this post with everyone you know via social networking sites and email. Will you stand in front of me, behind me or beside me? 🙂