Safeguarding Disclaimer


This letter contains references to sensitive life experiences. Some readers may find certain themes emotionally triggering.

If you are affected by anything you read, please know you are not alone and support is available. In South Africa, you can contact:

1. Big Sis Helpline: 0800 12 84 55
2. SADAG (South African Depression and Anxiety Group) Helpline: 0800 567 567
3. Childline South Africa: 116
4. Lifeline South Africa: 0861 322 322

Please take care while reading and reach out for help if you need it.

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To the younger Mosimanegape,

You will not understand why life takes from you so soon. You will not understand why a mother’s arms are replaced by the cold space of loss, or why a father’s love is missing when you need it most. At two years and six months, you will learn the taste of grief far too early.

You will face nights when asthma steals your breath and days when poison runs through your small body. You will feel betrayal from the very circle that should have been your protection. And yet — you will endure.

You will grow into a young man who learns that words can heal what medicine cannot. You will pour your heart into poetry, and those poems will not just be ink — they will be the lifeline that keeps you from drowning. One day, those poems will become books, and those books will touch hands and hearts you may never meet.

You will wrestle with anxiety, depression, and PTSD. Some days, the weight will feel unbearable. But you will discover that strength is not loud — sometimes it is simply the decision to get out of bed and keep moving.

You will stand for the vulnerable, for orphans, for those silenced by pain. You will sit in rooms with leaders, wearing the title of diplomat, proving to the younger you that the boy who thought he was invisible would one day be impossible to ignore.

So, younger Me, when the world tells you you are too small, remember — mountains are moved by things much smaller than themselves. Keep walking, even when your legs shake. Your story will save more than just yourself.

By Mosimanegape Leeuw