Day 394

Feeling guilty about things you cannot control can destroy you – that’s what I learned today 😦

It’s 7: 11 PM on day 394 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself banana for breakfast, cry for a while–see why in the next paragraph – publish my Disability of the Day feature–I prepared it yesterday night – Facebook about my Clean Water For All Campaign – I scheduled some tweets for Twitter last night so I decided to focus on Facebook still no luck – rest for a while – I didn’t get enough sleep last night because I was up almost until midnight scheduling tweets for Twitter– feed myself rice and curry for lunch, watch TV, feed myself yoghurt for dinner and brush my teeth once more.

Today while my mother was trying to comb my sister’s hair she – my sister – said you didn’t take care of me when I was two so don’t try to take care of me now and as if to make me feel more guilty after she left for school my mother said she’s right I didn’t give her much care you were there and then Kevin was born which made me burst out into tears because I’ve always felt guilty about the fact that my sister got so little attention from my parents but now I realize that I didn’t ask to be born – yet I was – I didn’t ask to have Cerebral Palsy – yet I do – and I didn’t ask for my parents to give me more attention than they did my sister and brother – yet they did – that being said I don’t mean to trivialize the pain my siblings feel – you will NEVER hear me say I know they feel because I don’t – and I would like them to know that I’m really trying not to be an inconvenience to anyone in this house – I don’t eat or drink much, I limit my trips to the bathroom, I don’t ask to go anywhere or do anything and I only ask for help when it is absolutely necessary (honestly, do you guys think I would ask you to get the laptop for me if I could do it myself). Are you destroying yourself?

Are we connecting on Twitter? If not, say hi at http://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://bit.ly/hC7vOu

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 342

You can’t make choices for anyone else – that’s what I learned today.

It’s 7: 47 PM on day 342 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, sleep some more, feed myself corn flakes for breakfast, publish my Kid of the Week feature, finish reading A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini – a book about extraordinary love and sacrifice I would recommend it to anyone who needs perspective – feed myself rice and curry for dinner and brush my teeth once more.

This morning we were discussing what we were going to eat for breakfast and I almost had a heart attack when my sister said she was making hamburgers and putting an egg on top of it – my brother is 17kg’s overweight according to his pediatrician – but after much begging, pleading and suggesting alternative foods I realized that he was going to have to make the decision to lose weight by himself so although I feel like I’m watching a train crash in slow motion I’m going to back off. Do you sometimes wish you could make choices for those you love?

Are we connecting on Twitter? If not, say hi at http://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://bit.ly/hC7vOu

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 330

Kids notice things that we overlook – that what I learned today 🙂

It’s 8: 29 PM on day 330 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself toast, scrambled eggs and sausages for brunch, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – Debbie (@MissShuganah) made a donation yesterday and my aunty and uncle made a second donation today only $1 912.10 more to raise to reach my goal I am SO happy 🙂 – watch TV, feed myself steamed vegetables for dinner and brush my teeth once more.

Last night my siblings and I were watching the seven o’ clock news on which they featured a story about the good work that doctors were doing in Somalia and my brother (who just turned eleven yesterday) said something along the lines of how come they always mention the doctors what about his team what about the nurses the nurses who took care of me (he was in hospital a couple of days ago) weren’t that bad and because I know that what he said was (and still is) so true I would like to say to all the nurses out there I SO appreciate what you do particularly with today being Women’s Day in South Africa I know that most of you are overworked and underpaid but without the healthcare sector would be on its knees so please keep doing what you’re doing and know that your work has value. Have the words of a child made you more appreciative of the people around you?

Are we connecting on Twitter? If not, say hi at http://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://bit.ly/hC7vOu

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 326

Every experience that comes to you is an opportunity to birth your divinity. – Richard H. Levy

It’s 7: 49 PM on day 326 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, read Sorta Crunchy on Bringing the Sunshine– a fun blog post about how far is too far when it comes to going green –    feed myself an avocado sandwich  for breaKfast, listen to music, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck – feed myself  naarjies – [plural of naarjie] a n orange like fruit that is unique  to South Africa– for lunch, watch TV, feed myself steamed vegetables for dinner, brush my teeth once more and watch some more TV.

Yesterday – I can’t believe I actually going to write this but if it helps someone it will be worth it – I asked my father to take the heater in our room – the room that my sister and I share – and put in my our brother’s room and he in turn asked my sister to do it and her being the smartass that she is brought the wrong heater and made some comment which rubbed my father up the wrong way and ended up in her getting a beating which left her hyperventilating with a red mark on her arm and although I wouldn’t wish that on anyone when she came back to our room in tears I realized that regardless of how you are abused the end result is that you feel like you are not worthy I knew that because every time my father said I should sit in the car while the rest of them went shopping or visiting I felt like he was engraving on my heart you are not good enough. Has a horrible experience taught you something that you would otherwise never know?

Are we connecting on Twitter? If not, say hi at http://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://bit.ly/hC7vOu

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 324

Success is relative – that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 8: 34 PM on day 324 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 – uncle Gopan – a comunity member of ours who I recognize if I meet him in person – made a donation – peel and feed myself naarjies – [plural of naarjie] a n orange like fruit that is unique  to South Africa–  for lunch, watch TV, feed myself rice and curry for dinner and brushh my teeth once more.

Yesterday while my mom and I were talking I suggested to her that she keep my brother at home from school for one more day just to be cautious – he had just returned home from a four day hospital stint on Monday – and she just came at me saying let him go what will I do if all my children end up like you in that moment it occurred to me that I wasn’t nor would I ever be successful in my mother’s eyes and strangely enough I was fine with that because regardless of what I go through every day I make it a point to put a smile on my face and be of service to others and that in my book makes me a success. Do you consider someone to be unsuccessful because they don’t fit into the box that you’ve created?

Are we connecting on Twitter? If not, say hi at http://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://bit.ly/hC7vOu

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 320

Bad times have a scientific value. These are occasions a good learner would not miss. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

It’s 8: 07 PM on day 320 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself an egg sandwich for breakfast, go visit my brother in hospital – we spent a few hours there feeding him and keeping him comppany while my mother came home to rest during that time church folk came with toys and sang Jesus Loves Me which I thought scared rather than comforted him I think it really made him feel like there was something wrong with him – tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck today but AquaTerra Fund – a focused carve out of the existing Agriculture, Water andNatural Resources portfolios originated from the the multi strategy Earth Wind & Fire Fund – made a donation yesterday – thanks Annic – one of the heads of the funds – feed myself rice and curry for dinner and watch TV.

As you may or may not know my brother has been in hospital since Thursday and although this has been the worst thing that has ever happened to me – including my back surgery – I have learned that charity begins at home – I cannot tell you how many times I have told my brother that I was too busy to play with him because I was trying to change the world only now I understand that I could have changed the world just by making him feel special which is why I will drop everything I’m doing – regardless of how important it is – when my brother comes home and asks to play with me. Do you waste bad times wallowing in self-pity or use them to become a better human being?

Are we connecting on Twitter? If not, say hi at http://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://bit.ly/hC7vOu

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 318

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. – Romans 12: 9

It’s 8: 04 PM on day 318 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, hang out with my mother – she didn’t go to work today because my brother was sick – feed myself Chapati and chicken curry for lunch, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck – go visit my brother in hospital – he’d been wheezing the whole week and we finally took him to the hospital where the doctor decided to keep him until he’s chest clears truth-be-told I think he’s having a ball watching all this favorite TV shows with my mother to keep him company – watch TV and feed myself rice and curry for dinner.

A couple of days ago I read Slams against people with special needs…and one bit of awesome on Love That Max and I like Ellen – blogger at Love That Max – was furious with a commenter on News Aggregator who posted a picture of a little girl who has Down Syndrome with a caption underneath it that read I can count to potato although I didn’t know quite what to say to the media about how they portrayed “disabled” people until today HOW DARE YOU those of us have “disabilities” have to work twice as hard and twice as long to accomplish the simplest of tasks and quite frankly we don’t need to open magazines to find that everybody’s laughing at us and not with us furthermore if you are an editor of a magazine that allows tasteless comments to be published in your magazine I will come after you I maybe a small fish in a big pound but you will hear me when I roar. Do you hate what is evil but fail to do anything about it when you see it around you?

Are we connecting on Twitter? If not, say hi at http://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://bit.ly/hC7vOu

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 313

Ninety-nine percent of the population is kind and caring it’s just the other one percent that are selfish and egotistical – that’s what I learning today.

It’s 8: 33 PM on day 313 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, donate £7.36 to Sophie Brown’s cause – Sophie visited South-West Uganda with her mom and she was so touched by the plight of the children there that she started raising money to building a classroom I LOVE her she’s a girl after my own heart 🙂 – make 40 sandwiches for our housekeeper’s neighborhood (if you have no idea what I’m talking about refer to Virginia’s Sandwich Run) – a HUGE shoutout to my baby brother – he’s 10 turning 11 next month – for helping me make the sandwiches today I am SO SO SO proud of you buddy today you became a real-life HERO! 🙂 – feed myself chicken biryani for lunch, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck – prepare my Kid of the Week feature for tomorrow – this week’s Kid of the Week is 2011 Miss Teen Maryland In’tl. 2 time Presidential Volunteer Service Award. Owner M.O.D.E.L.S. (Making Ongoing Differences in Every Life through Service) Margo Huffman feed myself sweet potatoes and plain yoghurt mixed with onions and chilies for dinner and brush my teeth once more.

Yesterday I was watching (TV)⁵ – radio on TV – and they featured some of their DJs who were part of Bikers for Mandela – a group of South African celebrities who travelled across the country spending sixty-seven minutes in service at each one of their stops – and not thirty minutes after that MTV’s My Super Sweet Sixteen – a show about teenagers and how much time and money they will spend on their sweet sixteen parties – aired my point is the world is screwed up and we should learn how to distinguish between the great and the down-right idiotic. Are you part of the ninety-nine percent or the one percent?

Are we connecting on Twitter? If not, say hi at http://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://bit.ly/hC7vOu

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 305

You are responsible for the energy that you create for yourself and you’re responsible for the energy that you bring to others. – Oprah Winfrey

It’s 7: 55 PM on day 305 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself a banana for breakfast, watch TV, feed myself rice and curry for lunch, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – I decided not to spent too much time tweeting today because my brother was complaining that I was being selfish with the laptop I tried to explain to him that I was trying to change the world but he’s ten I doubt he cared LOL 🙂 – spend some time with my family and brush my teeth once more.

Yesterday on the last episode of her show Oprah said all life is energy and for the life of me I didn’t know she meant until this morning when I woke up and realized that the feeling you give to someone even before you say a word or vice-versa was energy which explained why I felt (and still feel) drained when I’m with my father, sorrowful when my I’m with my mother and resentful when I’m with my siblings. Is the energy you create for yourself and bring to others consistent with the vision you have for your life?

Are we connecting on Twitter? If not, say hi at http://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://bit.ly/hC7vOu

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 303

You see there’s always another story, another side to every coin
And how you see your circumstance is all about a choice.
– From the song Jesus Calling by 33 Miles

It’s 8: 52 PM on day 303 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself toast, eggs, sausages and tomatoes for breakfast, watch TV, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, tweet some more about my campaign – today was a productive day I asked some of my friends to write blog posts about me and set up an interview 🙂 – read South African woman uses social media to build well for people without clean water – the published version of interview I did with @JeniseFryatt – thanks Jenise you did a GREAT job 🙂 – answer Nicky’s interview questions – I asked my friend Nicky to write a blog post about me and my campaign on The Nicky Blog and she suggested an interview instead and I have to say the girl knows her stuff 🙂 – feed myself Batura and chicken curry for dinner and brush my teeth once more.

Yesterday we visited a friend and just before we left she said Neethu – my sister – good luck with the decisions you have to make – referring to the decision she has to make about what she wants to be after she matriculates next year – and then she turned to me and said as if to include me in the conversation Nisha you must help her with those decisions and in that moment I realized that people would always perceive me as my sister’s aid and not as a person of my own just because of my disability and the life I chose which I have now decided is not necessarily a bad thing because I have the element of surprise on my side. Do you choose to see every circumstance as a blessing no matter what it appears to be?

Are we connecting on Twitter? If not, say hi at http://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://bit.ly/hC7vOu

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!