Cracking the Shell

Book excerpt: Usamba, the Jewel of Africa, has fought its way to freedom on the watery battlefield of her island nation, a fierce battle leading to a glorious victory, a victory memorialized in its Coat of Arms: a black elephant standing on a thick white blanket, spread on a raging sea, and on whose back stands a plump tortoise from whose rear end protrudes a beacon of light. In one of its major cities lives Akem, seeking a coat of another kind of arms, rowing his boat on another sea of turbulence. The waves are strong, but so is the will. The journey is long, but his destination is clear. Or is it?