[Partners]

Pierre’s “Fascinating Story of Dr. Martin Ngeka Luma – the African Kid” is so well written that I was totally unaware of its length. It is a story of survival, of rising above obstacles and circumstances in one of the most turbulent times in our world’s history. 

I have nothing but pure admiration for the author of this mesmerizing article.  I am so honored to have been asked to write this introduction to one of the fascinating men in Adland.  And, so, without further adieu I will turn this over to Mr. Pierre Louma.

Thank you very much.

Judy Smith.

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THE AFRICAN KID IN NAZI GERMANY
by Pierre Louma

This is the true story of one such African kid, who found himself, growing up in the Third Reich as a result of circumstances which he himself did not understand. Martin Ngeka Luma was born September 10, 1927 in Buinga -Tiko which lies at the foot of Mt. Cameroon in the former German colony of Kamerun (present day Cameroon in central Africa) which Germany lost as a result of World War I. He was the son of Nako Nduinbe Tonga (his father) and Enanga Ngombe (his mother).

His mother Enanga Ngombe had been married to a German called Mathias Funk who was an employee of Lever Brothers with whom she bore as many as seven children; but all of them died of various diseases. The Funks came originally from Bremen in Germany. When Mathias Funk was transferred to the Central African, Enanga Ngornbe’s parents refused to allow their daughter to move there with Mathias Funk. After the departure of Mathias Funk, Enanga Ngombe remarried to Nako Ndumbe Tonga and bore a son and named him "Minyangadu" Luma. Unfortunately for the boy, Nako Ndumbe Tonga died three months before his son was born. The last that was ever heard of Mathias Funk is that he died in Central Africa from injuries suffered after falling from a horse which trampled on him breaking his ribs.

The mother, Enanga Ngombe on the other hand, took in a lot of water, and died a few days after being rescued. Thus shortly after the birth of this child called "Minyangadu", both parents had died leaving him an orphan. The responsibility of looking after the orphaned child finally fell on the grandmother, Joana Epiti Ngeka, woman who had studied in Germany and spoke German very fluently.

An old German Jewish couple, Mr. & Mrs. Manfred Schneider, who had been plantation owners in Kamerun and who were childless prevailed on Joana Epiti Ngeka to allow them to take the orphan with them when they decided to return to Germany for Christmas in December 1927. The Schneiders went back to the town of Bremen, the same town where the Funk family came from. This is how the young African boy found himself growing up in Germany in the household of the German family. Mrs. Manfred Schneider's father lived alone in Berlin, having lost his wife.

The Schneider family was the object of considerable curiosity and gossip because neighbors wondered how the couple had managed to bear a black child while in Africa. It must have been the hot sun, they thought. For the black kid now renamed “Heinrich Schneider” growing up in Bremen was quite challenging because he could not understand why he was black while his parents were white.

When he became of school age, the family moved from Bremen to the Wuppetal so that Heinrich could go to school down there. There again he found himself in a school where all the children were white while he was the only black child. He could not explain to himself why it was so and had to live with some occasional teasing from children who would open his clothes in order to find out whether he had a tail. One such kid was called Helmut Schmidt a childhood friend and schoolmate. Helmut Schmidt grew up to be the West German Chancellor. The two met again later in life, when Helmut Schmidt was still holding the office of German Chancellor.

Heinrich recalls vividly a sporting event which took place in Germany when he was a kid. He remembers that a black man ran the 100 meter dash so fast that he won the gold medal; but the big man (Adolf Hitler) refused to shake his hand. 

 But soon after that, Herr Manfred Schneider Heinrich’s German father, died. At this point, Mrs. Schneider and her son Heinrich decided to move to Berlin in order to live in the house which she had inherited after her father died. Mrs. Schneider had no other surviving relatives and neither did the young Heinrich. Mother and adopted child had only each other alive. Consequently, Heinrich Schneider followed his mother everywhere she went. Meanwhile, Storm clouds were rapidly gathering over Germany.

Something happened that morning, which made it necessary for Mrs. Schneider to leave home in a hurry with Heinrich and met her waterloo on the way!! It was this same event that saw Heinrich face to face with Adolf Hitler!! What was it? The story has just started.  Please <<Click Here to read all>>

Thank You!

Pierre Louma.

Home Again Project.

 ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Pierre Louma is an active and respectable member of Adland community. Born in Cameroon in central Africa and graduated in Economy, he has been a strategic figure in his home country and notably America in the support of development projects and programs for over 30 years now.

The first son of Dr. Martin Ngeka Luma - referred in this article as the “African Kid”, Pierre has been building some strong strategic influence with the financial institutions and corporate bodies bases in Europe and America willing to support venture projects in the developing countries.

Presently, Dr. Pierre Louma is the Chairman and CEO of MNL Foundation Trust which has just been launched and is seeking international funders for its pet project of discouraging brain drains from developing countries. For more about Pierre and his Home Again project, please <<click here>>

to imagine such a child living and surviving in Germany. Living in the close and familial comfort provided by someone who has become completely reviled by history, who could imagine that such a child could make a fantastic journey that must be viewed as myth or legend! Who could imagine that such a child could even live through such a life, only to surprise and amaze us by the Great man that he became. A fascinating life lesson, an interesting story of destiny and completely bewitching when one recollects the story as a non-fiction.

Thanks to Pierre for sharing such a great story with us.

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