Letters to Momo - by Alejandro Souza

I am pleased to introduce a guest post by Alejandro Souza, an inspired writer and social entrepreneur. In 2010 Alejandro's family was shaken up by a life event which was compounded by distance. He turned to the power of penmanship to bring the situation hope, resilience & light. 

I’d like to share with you a remarkable journey of personal transcendence and overcoming! Let’s start at the beginning…

In September of 2010, I received an email informing me that my cousin Momo, as I called him, had been imprisoned. His situation was deeply challenging to say the least: 23-years old and about to graduate from university abroad, his world was suddenly confined to one of the largest high-security prisons in Liverpool. His parents and sisters were all home in Mexico, an Atlantic Ocean away.

A truly compassionate, loving, and caring person only a year my junior, Momo has always been my closest friend in the family. Although we lived in different countries most of our lives, no physical distance ever kept us from communicating. Crushed by his imprisonment and the realization that he had been facing this situation alone for months, I made an unconditional commitment to live the experience as close to him as I possibly could.

My mind was made: I resolved to write him one letter each day for as long as he was in jail.

Many letters and a few months later, Momo was released from prison and flew back to Mexico City. Once home, he finally told me face-to-face how important the letters had been. He told me the letters became his lifeline, that they gave him love and strength to overcome his physical and psychological prisons, to find meaning in his experience, and to ultimately achieve personal growth and liberation.

That is why today, we’ve just launched an amazing Kickstarter campaign to crowd-source the funds needed to publish the book Letters to Momo – the collection of all daily letters I wrote to my cousin – exactly as he received them.

My daily letters were my way of walking with Momo and infusing him with strength, resilience, and above all, love. The letters were written to help him not only survive the incarceration, but to transcend it by consciously seeking the value of the experience as a platform for liberation and growth. Never brooding or negative, each letter has a positive and inspiring tone as an empowering reminder that he was not a victim of circumstance and that if he chose to, he could author the change he desired in his life. In short, the letters were intended to rouse the personal power to overcome we each are innately born with.

Today, we want to publish the book because we believe in the power of its message! We are certain the letters can inspire and empower others to confront and overcome barriers to their own liberation, regardless of situation or background. As Momo states, “it would be a blessing to share them with the world because there is no ownership to such sincere insights.”

Never written with the intention of being published, or for anyone other than Momo, the letters were written straight from the heart in genuine stream of consciousness. Today they remain intact and in their original state, as pure as originally sent to Momo. And that’s exactly how we want to publish them.

Our vision is to share, not to sell. That’s why we want to get this story out there because we firmly believe that no one should walk alone!

Today, let these letters walk with you.

To embark on your own journey of personal transcendence and overcoming, click here. 

Born and raised in Mexico City, Alejandro is a 26-year-old writer, poet, traveller and social entrepreneur. A lover of the experience of life itself, he treats the world as an emblem of possibility. Each of his projects is an intensive expression of his entire person. Even though all paths of attainment are different, his goal remains the same: to help enhance quality of life by reminding us of our innate ability to own the change we desire - and to smile at the realisation communally and loudly, every step of the way. You can reach him and visit his work via http://www.letterstomomo.com