Foot Prints of Destiny

Book excerpt: The edifice of colonial Africa starts cracking as the Black experience with colonialism becomes intimately personal. There is Martin Paul Samba, whose adopted German aristocratic home as a student does not consider him material for a son-in-law. There are also Prince Rudolph Douala Manga Bell and Dr Bele who go to school with Samba in Germany. And then, of course, Princess Zara, the youthful Amazon warrior who is rescued from a slave ship on the shores of Kamerun. Supported by the Douala princes, Martin Paul Samba champions the cause of the exploited, in a central drama pitting Kamerunian nationalism against German colonialism. This is the story of youthful endeavours and loves, of some of Africa's best and brightest, immediately before and after the First World War.