Maina on further analysis of you points you mention, brutality and sadistic actions of Germans, this givess a clue, between 1904 and 1907 the Herero and Namaqua took arms againest the Germans, and these two tribs were almost decimated, by the Germans and those that survived we detained and subjected to harsh conditions probably what you refer as sadistic condition, I can now predict that your grandpa was Either a Herero or Namaqua tribe. Hopefully this points you in the right direction. Good luck

Thank you for writing and for your ideas.

grandfather was 10 years old when he was abducted and only remembered that his village was in the inland nearby a river with crocodiles. After the death of his father and after his mother had remarried they moved to the Cape Colony and lived there for a while. Then they moved to south west africa. Now a professor who wrote me on another website said there weren't any rivers with crocodiles in the namibian areas and that he figures his origin was in Transkei East London. But an expert on Xhosa and Zulu people wrote me that his families names aren't either one. So I still believe I need to find sombody who knows the origin of these names: Bonjo, Jomo, Ceriu, Biju,Lise and Nkanga. (probably spelled incorrectly)

M/s Maina, Again accept my sympathy. In this case the next logical step is Tanzania, because we can can place Germans there and similar violence (see Maji Maji rebellion) at simillar time, and there is a big river (Rufiji). For the tribe the only name that I can`point to is Nkanga sounds more South African and the only groups that migrated from South, are the Ngoni, Chaga and Nyamweya. In Tanzania I would start with the Ngoni since they are closely related with the Zulu. (had noted someone had said Maina in south Afric is a girl) There is alot of cross over in names in Bantus. But Nkanga stands out. Note Ngoni were the ones that fought in Majimaji (Ngoni were known to be very brave just like the Zulus)

Thank you again for your reply. But my grandfather was abducted in "luederitzbucht" in todays Namibia and he was brought to Europe, to work as a servant. How would he and his family travel from Tansania to Luderitzbucht in those days. If I could only sent you a picture. maybe by looking at his features you could tell me more.

I hope you get answers to your quest. I can asure you I am not an authority in this area, (I am an analytical Chemist)but I would not rule out Tanzania for the following reasons; Tanzania was a German colony, there was incidences of brutality at the same time, the only way back to Europe would have meant stopping in Namibia for supplies or picking up more merchandise, Your grandfather could have changed ownership during this time or sold and now assuming a new point of origination(a probability), The name maina and Nkanga a posibilty in Ngoni Tanzania, and more probable the words Kanga wili (probabily Kanga wawili in swahili)Brings it on East African coast. Big river with crocs, yeah we have them in Tanzania. This now presents an even bigger dilema. The only way to solve this is to know the actual names of his masters and see whether there is a trial of paperwork in achives in namibia and South Africa. Its most probable there is trial of paperwork, asuming the same scenario, It hold for the US slave, there is trial of slaves paperwork here in the US, from slave masters. Again wish you the best.