Tag Archives: special needs

Day 1061: Women’s Day

A woman is like a tea bag – you can’t tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.- Eleanor Roosevelt

It’s 2 : 08 PM on day 1061 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself boiled egg and Bran Flakes for breakfast, pray, read Judges 20, publish my Disability of the Day feature and tweet and Facebook about my campaign – God answers prayers in the most unexpected ways my brother (who turned 13 yesterday) donated $20 of his birthday money to my campaign I was so touched by his generosity I have asked lots of employed people for donations most of them said sorry money is tight right now can’t donate and yet an unemployed 13-year-old was able to donate just goes to show where there’s a will there’s a way 🙂

Today is National Women’s Day on this day 57 years ago more than 50,000 women staged a march on the Union Buildings in Pretoria to protest against the proposed amendments to the Urban Areas Act (commonly known as the pass laws) of 1950 because of what those women did women like me can go where we want to go and for that I will be forever grateful. Thank you to the women of 1956 for taking a stand and making this country a better place.

Day 1060: Happy Birthday Kevin

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To the outside world we all grow old.
But not to brothers and sisters.
We know each other as we always were.
We know each other’s hearts.
We share private family jokes.
We remember family feuds and secrets,
family griefs and joys.
We live outside the touch of time.
-Clara Ortega

It’s 12 : 03 PM on day 1060 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself Bran Flakes and peanut butter sandwich for breakfast, read Judges 19, publish my Disability of the Day feature, pray, tweet and Facebook about my campaign – I think it was Albert Einstein who once said insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result I’m beginning to wonder if I’m persistent or just insane please God help me raise the $250 more I need to reach goal – and make sandwiches as part of Virginia’s Sandwich Run with our housekeeper’s help – I think about Virginia a lot especially when I’m making sandwiches for the kids in our current housekeeper’s neighborhood she was such an awesome human being she loved my family as much as she loved her own.

Today is a big day at our house my baby brother turns 13 I can hardly believe it I still remember the first time I held him he was wearing a light blue baby outfit and I was sitting on a dark blue pushchair. Happy Birthday Kevin may you always be sweet, kind and compassionate.

Day 1059: Amanda Palmer: The art of asking

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“I maintain couchsurfing and crowdsurfing are basically the same thing — you’re falling into the audience and you’re trusting each other.” — Amanda Palmer

It’s 12 : 24 PM on day 1059 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, pray, read Judges 18, publish my Disability of the Day feature, feed myself All Bran Flakes for breakfast, tweet and Facebook about my campaign – today was the most disheartening day of the campaign I asked someone to make a donation and she basically said she didn’t want to because she didn’t know any slaves I don’t know any slaves either doesn’t mean I don’t care about what happens to them – chat to friends about possible business opportunities and stretch my hamstrings.

A few days ago I watched Amanda Palmer: The art of asking – a ted talk by musician Amanda Palmer about giving and receiving and the trust between the giver and the receiver – I could relate to what Amanda was saying you can’t make people help you all you can do is ask people to help and trust that they will. Watch Amanda Palmer: The art of asking below:

Day 1058: Never Say Die

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Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. – Calvin Coolidge

It’s 12 : 03 PM on day 1058 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself All Bran Flakes for breakfast, pray, read Judges 17, publish my Disability of the Day feature, tweet and Facebook about my campaign – I did the best I could to inform people about human trafficking and slavery with two antibiotics in my system I hate being on drugs I feel like so dull and to think all this could have been avoided if I just covered up my wound learn from my mistake never leave a wound open it will cause more trouble than it’s worth.

As of today I only have 70 days to raise $250 more to reach my goal of raising $1000 for the Not For Sale Campaign I may reach my goal with minutes to spare or I may reach it in the next two days but rest assured I will reach it I may not be the smartest or most eloquent person you will ever meet but I work hard for as long as it takes to achieve my goals and perhaps because of that I almost always end up reaching my goals I believe that to succeed in life you have to have a never-say-die attitude you have to basically believe you’ll succeed even when it looks like you’re going to fail. Are you where you are in life because you just refused to quit on anything you did?

Day 1057: Knowing there’s nothing wrong with you

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Know that there’s nothing wrong with no matter what anybody else says– that’s what I keep learning.

It’s 12 : 27 PM on day 1057 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to pray, read Judges 16, publish my Disability of the Day feature, brush my teeth, take off my jacket and t–shirt and put a clean t-shirt on, feed myself All Bran Flakes for breakfast, tweet about my campaign – no one made a donation so far today – practice sitting up straight to strengthen my core muscles and go to the doctor – a wound on my toe become infected and now I’m on two antibiotics and my foot is bandages up *joy*.

Yesterday afternoon my dad was talking to someone and he said I have three children [my first daughter] is not well my parents are loving and devoted but I could find a cure for AIDS and they would still refer to me as their eldest daughter who is not well it hurts but I know there’s nothing wrong with me and I understand that my parents only see me this way because they grew up in India where “disabled” people are seen as broken people with nothing to contribute to the world. Do you know that there’s nothing wrong with you regardless of what anybody else says?

Day 1056: Why God sometimes says no to you?

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God hears and answers all our prayers it’s just that sometimes the answer is no – that’s what I keep learning.

It’s 12 : 04 PM on day 1056 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, pray, read Judges 15, publish my Disability of the Day feature, publish my Kid of the Week feature, feed myself boiled egg and All Bran Flakes for breakfast, practice sitting up straight to strengthen my core muscles and tweet and Facebook about my campaign – no one made a donation so far today either *sigh*

A couple of days ago I read God Isn’t Healing My Child With Cerebral Palsy – a thought-provoking blog post that investigates claims of a miraculous healing – and I knew that a lot of people who read that post would be thinking if God has the power to heal people why does He heal some people and not others I believe God hears and answers all our prayers it’s just that sometimes the answer is no growing up if I remember right I prayed for the ability to walk if God had given me what I had asked for I probably wouldn’t have raised money to build a well in Kenya or done any of the other great stuff I’ve done so you see sometimes God says no to you because he’s got something better planned for you. Do you think God didn’t hear you when He answers your prayers with a no?

Day 1055: Blood Diamond

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Who do you think buys the stones I bring out, dreamy American girls who want a story book wedding and a big shiny rock. It’s like the ones they see in the advertisements in your politically correct magazines, so please, don’t come here and make judgements on me, alright. I provide a service, the world wants what we have, and they want it cheap. We’re in business together, get over yourself, darling. – Danny Archer, Blood Diamond

It’s 12 : 38 PM on day 1055 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself boiled egg and All Bran Flakes for breakfast, read Judges 14, pray, publish my Disability of the Day feature, tweet and Facebook about my campaign – no one made a donation so far today but some people promised to I guess that’s something I refuse to quit you only fail when you stop trying and I refuse to stop trying– help my brother study for his Afrikaans test – the job of a sister is never done but he’s a great kid (most of the time) and I’m glad to help (most of the time) 🙂 – and promote my campaign some more – still no luck.

Two days ago I watched Blood Diamond – a movie about diamonds and the role they play in war – it was the most horrific portrayal of reality I have ever seen before I saw this movie I never thought much about diamonds but now every time I see a diamond I will always wonder how that rock got from the mine to the woman’s finger people getting maimed and murdered all so a woman can have a shiny rock on her finger doesn’t seem worth it to me we as people need to decide that we don’t want anything at the expense of another human being’s life.

Day 1054: Being present in every moment

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Be present in all the moments of your life ― that’s what I keep learning.

It’s 12 : 37 PM on day 1054 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to stretch my hamstrings, pray, read Judges 13, publish my Disability of the Day feature, brush my teeth, feed myself All Bran Flakes for breakfast, tweet and Facebook about my campaign – no one made a donation so far today – and practice sitting up straight to strengthen my core muscles.

Yesterday I was feeling oh so awful but since there was almost nothing I could do about it I accepted it and perhaps because of that I’m back to my normal self again (thanks again God) in life we can’t choose what happens to us but we can choose how we react to it. Are you in the moment every moment of your life?

Day 1053: Aimee Mullins: The opportunity of adversity

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“There’s an important difference and distinction between the objective medical fact of my being an amputee and the subjective societal opinion of whether or not I’m disabled. Truthfully, the only real and consistent disability I’ve had to confront is the world ever thinking that I could be described by those definitions.” – Aimee Mullins

It’s 11 : 03 AM on day 1053 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to pray, brush my teeth, feed myself boiled egg and All Bran Flakes for breakfast, read Judges 12, publish my Disability of the Day feature and tweet and Facebook about my campaign – no one made a donation so far today I feel so uncomfortable physically I don’t care much about anything right now in an effort to prevent the chronic constipation that comes with having CP I’ve been eating a lot of vegetables and now because I’ve been eating a lot of vegetables I’m stuck with other digestive issues I just can’t win I know there are people going through worse things than me but this sucks too.

Yesterday afternoon watching Aimee Mullins: The opportunity of adversity – a Ted Talk by U.S. Paralympic athlete Aimee Mullins about empowering “disabled” people and embracing adversity – I realized Aimee was right society does make people more “disabled” than they truly are by labeling them crippled, handicapped and useless if people kept referring to you as crippled, handicapped and useless would you be motivated to succeed of course not you would probably end up living up to those labels. Watch Aimee Mullins: The opportunity of adversity below:

Day 1051: Sue Austin: Deep sea diving … in a wheelchair

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Everything is truly how you see it – that’s what I keep learning 🙂

It’s 12 : 31 PM on day 1051 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to pray, brush my teeth, feed myself All Bran Flakes for breakfast, read Judges 10, publish my Disability of the Day feature,tweet and Facebook about my campaign – 11 days since the last donation (yes I keep count) and still no luck but people have promised to make donations and I believe they will keep their promises – chat to a mom whose son has Cerebral Palsy on Facebook – I am my happiest when I’m using my experiences to help parents of “special needs” kids doing that makes me feel like there’s a purpose for me having CP – practice sitting up straight to strengthen my core muscles, take off my dirty jacket and t-shirt and put a clean t-shirt on, stretch my hamstrings, get my hair washed (thank you sisi Nikiwe for washing my hair for me) and spend some time outside.

Yesterday I stumbled across Sue Austin: Deep sea diving … in a wheelchair – a ted talk by Sue Austin who made it her mission in life to change the way people see “disabilities” and “disabled” people – I was blown away Sue turned a wheelchair which people usually associate with limitation and restriction into an aspirational object. Watch Sue Austin: Deep sea diving … in a wheelchair below: