The Road to Belonging
Francis Mandewah
Telemachus Press, LLC (2025)
ISBN: 978-1965121399
Reviewed by Paul Knobloch for Reader Views (11/2025)
We learn in the preface of this unique memoir, The Road to Belonging: My Journey to Punta Gorda, Belize, that the author, Francis Mandewah, started his life in Sierra Leone, and let me tell you, while some may wish to argue, I do not believe there is a more brutal cauldron on earth for a child to land in. This is the author’s second memoir, and it is also very much an adventure yarn and a tale about the importance of spirituality, friends, family, and community.
In case you did not know, Sierra Leone is in the heart of Blood Diamond territory, and much like the coltan mines in the Congo, ending up there as a laborer means essentially a premature death, or a life of misery as a modern-day chattel slave: a nightmarish reality for most of the poor and underprivileged in sub-Saharan Africa. After a bit of good fortune saves him from this hellish fate, the author begins a career in the United States. After retiring, Mandewah begins a journey of rediscovery, looking for his roots, trying to reconnect spiritually, and attempting to find meaning in social and communal bonds.
This is part two of his story.
Following hot on the heels of 2016’s Friendship: A True Story of Adventure, Goodwill, & Endurance, this book explores Mandewah’s attempts to reconnect to his roots and find new meaning and purpose in Belize. This country, free of the throngs of tourists we see in other South American and Caribbean countries, is attracting a lot of American ex-pats, and it is easy to see why, considering the current political climate in the States. Mandewah was saved from poverty when an American pilot, Tom Johnson, dragged him out of war-torn Sierra Leone and brought him to America. He thereafter worked in the Wisconsin Department of Corrections until he retired in 2015.
The author originally considered returning to Sierra Leone, but decided against it. He learned of Belize and considered it the perfect destination for him – a mix of modern amenities and traditional living. The memoir’s first pages are dedicated to the research he did on the country, and there’s a very interesting story about Ms. Vernon, “Queen of Brok Don,” a musician, dancer, and performer who has brought Creole culture to stages around the globe.
I loved the story of his arrival in Belize and his interactions with the customs officer. When examining the author’s documents, the inspector immediately mentioned the name of Sierra Leone’s capital city (Freetown). Now, I don’t know if any of you have had issues at customs, but I will tell you that about one American in every thousand might be able to tell you the capital of Sierra Leone. If you had a gun to their head, maybe. This is something people forget: there are plenty of good reasons to live in places other than the United States of America.
And yes, there is a direct connection to Mandewah’s roots. Remember, the country’s population is made up of the descendants of many African slaves, who, along with British settlers, evolved into the creole culture that is the Belize of today. Interestingly enough, it is a community of Native Americans, an Ojibwe Chippewa settlement, which accepts and embraces the author most warmly. They not only made him feel at home, but they also spoke out against the injustices he faced when working for the corrections department.
Mandewah also includes charts and lists with important advice he gleans on his path to rediscovery. He learns about and shares the importance of self-forgiveness, and comes to understand he can’t control every situation, but he can choose to keep his mindset positive regardless. These and other insights he shares will help anyone who is on a path of personal, spiritual, or cultural rediscovery. Most importantly, it may give others the courage to do what Mandewah has done, which is, in some ways, the classic late-life strategy in Vedanta, the way of the Vanaprastha, who uses this time to reflect on life while dealing with one’s mortality.
That takes a lot of courage, and Mandewah is to be commended for an honest and very well-written second memoir in The Road to Belonging.