How to Share A Return Home

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“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” – Joseph Campbell

I lived in the Philippines until I was almost seven-years-old. When I went back to visit with my family 22 years later, I was surprised that I could navigate a few streets near where we used to live. It was like a pull that oriented me to where I spent the first years of my life.

So I related to Mario Cartaya’s phrase of letting the subconscious guide when he shared his emotional journey back to Cuba after 56 years on the How to Share podcast. Mario has written a touching and insightful memoir about that trip, Journey Back Into the Vault.

Mario tells us how his family’s rushed departure from Cuba as a nine-year-old left him with a vault of childhood memories that he couldn’t unlock. Mario shares stories from his 1-week journey back to Cuba that helped him unlock the memories in that vault. We talk about how so many magical moments unfolded as he visited the scenes of his childhood.

We talk about the close-knit sense of community in Cuba. Mario tells us about the Cuban diaspora and how the pain of separation affects families on both sides.

Mario tells us about his current project chronicling the historic friendship that the US and Cuba once shared.

Mario is a wonderful guest who delivers a strong sense of hope for whatever divides us and a reminder that we can all work to find our own inner peace and deliver it to this world. I know you’ll love this episode and his book, Journey Back Into the Vault!

Key Themes:

  • Mario’s traumatic departure from Cuba in 1960
  • The vault of childhood memories and their significance
  • Revisiting childhood homes and places in Cuba
  • The impact of family separation and diaspora
  • The historic friendship between the US and Cuba from 1860-1960
  • Mario’s current project on US-Cuba relations

Check out this short clip of Mario’s deep and insightful elevator pitch for Journey Back Into the Vault:

Here are some ways you can watch or listen to all of this fascinating and compelling episode:

Please listen, watch, provide feedback and subscribe.

How to Share Advocacy with Sam Daley-Harris Part 2 – How To Share

In this conversation, Sam Daley-Harris talks with Wynne Leon and Vicki Atkinson and unpacks how transformational advocacy fits alongside other forms of activism like protests, litigation, and voter mobilization—and why it can succeed even when Washington seems paralyzed by shutdowns and partisan conflict. Sam shares some concrete examples from global health and environmental advocacy, offer insight into how citizens are working to reverse damage and protect the most vulnerable, and—perhaps most importantly—explain how anyone can be effective, even with just five to fifteen minutes a day. If you’ve ever wondered whether your voice can really matter, this conversation offers both clarity and hope. And Sam offers to be a guide to help you connect to the issues that matter most for you. We love talking with Sam because he shares how to be effective and counter the effects of fear, cynicism and loneliness. We know you’ll love this conversation! Links for this episode:Transcript for How to Share Advocacy Part 2Sam's Sign-up Sheet for resources on how to get startedReclaiming Our Democracy websiteReclaiming Our Democracy: Every Citizen's Guide to Transformational Advocacy, 2024 Edition on Amazon
  1. How to Share Advocacy with Sam Daley-Harris Part 2
  2. What Do You Know To Be True?
  3. How to Share a Return Home with Mario Cartaya
  4. How to Share a Mission with Anthony Dyer
  5. How to Share Your Superpower with Roger Kastner

Links for this episode:

How to Share a Return Home Transcript

Journey Back Into the Vault on Barnes and Noble and Amazon

Mario Cartaya’s website

From the host:

My book about my beloved father: Finding My Father’s Faith

(featured photo from Pexels)

45 thoughts on “How to Share A Return Home”

  1. Really? You were here in the Philippines before? That’s interesting. This podcast surely bring back memories of your childhood, Wynne. His book sounds informative and intriguing.

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    1. Yes, I love the Philippines! My dad was pastor of a non-denominational church in Makati so we lived there for 6 years. What an amazing country with beautiful people! I’m still in touch with some of the wonderful people we knew from our time there!

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  2. Mario’s story is fantastic. But I cannot think at Cuba without looking into the current political context. I went to Cuba at the end of 2022 and what I saw was a super beautiful island with very kind and welcoming people who were hopeless as after Obama, both Biden and Trump administration’s embargo has become harder and triggered a severe humanitarian and economic crisis there. This is the impact of the U.S. economic politics toward Cuba that’s been in place since 1962. Trump is just waiting for the island to collapse. He calls Cuba “the failed nation”. We should not forget it. We are all human, as Mario said, and we all have the same needs. Cuban people are missing even the basic needs. Sorry for this long comment, but I love Cuba and Cubans so much that I couldn’t refrain from pointing this out.

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    1. What a great comment, Cristiana. It makes me so sad what has happened. Mario was telling me about the amazing research he did for his next book and the close (and helpful) relationship Cuba and US had from 1860-1960. Tragic.

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  3. Mario’s story is deeply touching, reconnecting and finding his memories of his youth… Love his strong sense of hope.
    A few months ago, I talked with a young man who at the age of 13 came to the USA from Cuba with his grandfather. Once they arrived here, his grandfather moved them away from the Cuban community in the US, because he wanted them to excel at becoming American by being deeply immersed in the language and customs. I wish our country was more welcoming to people who want so very much to achieve the American dream, who just want to live a better life.
    It’s so interesting to learn that you spent your early childhood in the Philippines, Wynne. Most of the folks I know who are US citizens and lived in the Philippines were there because of the Peace Corps, on a Missions Trip, or in the Military.

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    1. What an interesting story, Rose. I love how you have a gift for capturing other people’s stories!

      My dad was pastor of a non-denominational church in Manilla for 6 years so we moved there when I was 6 mos old. Amazing country!

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  4. Thanks for sharing this Wynne.
    What a compelling story that Mario has to share and I so appreciate his bravery in going back to his unconscious and journeying back to his past memories to open and revisit his past to find his heart.. How beautiful! ❤️

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  5. So empowering, Wynne – just listening to the short clip you’ve included here. Trauma, identity, discovery…such potent themes! And Mario’s insight – about working to repair the ‘torn tapestry of his life…’
    Can’t wait to tune into the whole episode. Thank you so much. 💝

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  7. A beautifully expressed description of Mario’s trip into darkness, and then for him to find there is light. It takes a brave person to do this. Bravo, Mario!

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  10. I can attest how emotional a return home is. My daughter and I returned to Montreal (our birthplace and home city) for Columbus Day weekend to bury my mother’s ashes. We left around 20 years ago under difficult circumstances. To go back to a place one feels still is home is emotional, especially when one visits places and restaurants that held significance. It was thoroughly enjoyable and very needed.

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      1. It was a very special mother-daughter trip. We connected with family there, and even mended a bridge that had plagued all of us for years. It was very good for the soul!

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      1. Thank you! I look forward to learning more about Cuba. I had a friend in Palm Springs who came from Cuba as an adult. He was a lifeguard at the city pool and he and I took masters together and shared a lane. We were two of the slowest! He also had fascinating stories about growing up in Cuba.

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  12. So you can go home again. Ha, ha. Interesting story Wynne. I do find it interesting when I travel back to where I grew up, how I still know my way around – both emotionally and gps wise. I go back to a different time and place, but it still comes back to me. Interesting post.

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  15. I truly enjoyed how Mario presented his story, Wynne. I could close my eyes and literally see him going into the old home and picking up a memory still on the landing, or talking to a cousin and (almost physically) picking up another memory and adding it to his growing collection of old buried thoughts. And finally, he was able to remember the “totality of who I am.” He put himself back together. And just separately, the pain of his family and all families in Cuba who were forced to separate and still can’t see each other for so many years is unconscionable. I love how you pointed out that you suspect he shares his dad’s personality. He was beaming!

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  16. I had no idea we shared a similar childhood background, growing up in the tropics! I’m glad you were able to return “home.” I went back to Hawaii once, on my honeymoon, but she wasn’t Tara and so that memory holds no special power for me.

    Oh, and great podcast too!

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  19. What a beautiful and compelling conversation, Wynne. You can really go back home and what a wonderful homecoming 56 years in the making. What a life and all those rich connections, including with a Castro relative as a kindergarten teacher! I could picture him sitting on those steps and seeing his 8-year-old self come to life beside him.

    Listening to this tender conversation reminded me of my first grownup trip and first vacation with the hubby – to Cuba after graduating from university. The people were so warm and a highlight was visiting a local’s home while we rode a moped around Holguin. Will never forget it.

    It also reminded me of first visit back to the Philippines in 2008. I also left when I was 8, but didn’t have to wait 56 years, only 19. There is just something transformative about that journey back.

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    1. Oh, that sounds like a perfect first grownup trip, Ab! How fun is that? I’m so glad Mario brought back that trip as well as returning to the Philippines! You are so right, there is something transformative about the journey back.

      And I love the way you listen – yes to those rich connections. So fun! I appreciate you tuning in, Ab!

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