A Statement by an African Porter Captured in the First World War

Below is a rare statement made by Kakoli wa Fulano, an African porter, shortly after his capture by Indian troops in August 1915 in East Africa. Kakoli wa Fulano’s statement was translated into English and appears in the war diary of the 98th Indian Infantry held at the National Archives in London. Kakoli was one of a large number of porters, both hired and coerced into working for the Germans during the war. He was from the Sukuma tribe, who live around the shores of present-day Tanzania. All spellings of place names/tribes are how they appear in the original document.

My name is Kakoli wa Fulano, of the Suguma tribe. I was brought down with several other porters from the Suguma country, three months ago. We passed through Arusha where there are many troops and came to Moshi by the big main road. There are no motor cars on this road, the Germans go either on foot or by mule.

I stayed at Moshi two months but did not go to Goma. There is one company of Mnyamwezi at Moshi, and four machine guns, also many white people. The trains come once daily to Moshi with people and luggage. There are many shops at Moshi, the Indians sell rice, maize flour and beans but food is dear. I do not know if they sell other things besides food,

The white people eat rice, maize, and flour in the shops. Porters get rations of flour, beans and dried bannanas, also Rs 12/- paid each month. They sign on for 6 months and then return to their homes.

We came from near the white houses at Rombo where some ‘Franze’ (French) teach children. The Franza are not tied up. The camp we came from is about two miles below the house of the Franza. There are five white men and forty askaris at this camp. One is Bwana Mkubwa who stays in camp with one other. The remaining three go out to see what the English are doing.

There are no guns at this camp, and it only has a thorn boma round it. The men are Wafipa (Mwanyamwezi). I do not know the number of their Regiment. We went out with two white men, ten askaris and seven porters. We camped at the Ngare Len and came on down the big road to a camp where many Germans had been digging in a sandy river bed, the road ends here – (Mogoini).

Sometimes a few Germans come to this camp and go away again. Then we went on slowly, after hiding our food loads near the river, and only carrying a little with us, we crossed the Turesh at night, and climbed up a high hill (Signal Hill) when we came down we passed near the Indians who fired at us. I lay down in the grass and the others ran away.