Khalifa
Khalifa is the son of an Indian father, Qassim, and a black mother, Mariamu. Khalifa was brought up as an Indian and was privileged to attend school in the early days. After finishing school, Khalifa gets his first job as a bookkeeper. Later Khalifa joins the merchant Indian brothers operating a bank business. The merchant relied on Khlaifa's knowledge of the Roman alphabet before they made important decisions.
Khalifa is an asset to his employers because they do not know the Roman alphabet used in business transactions. The author describes Khalifa as an honest man who does not exploit his bosses. For instance, Khalifa gives honest opinions regarding business contracts and advice his bosses accordingly without manipulating them.
Qassim
Qassim is the father of Khalifa. The father is a loving, caring, and protective family man. Unlike other Indian men who played around with African women for sexual satisfaction as they waited to marry Indian women, Qassim was different because he loved his wife until she died of malaria. In addition, Qassim valued education and business. Therefore, he ensured that Khalifa went to school and graduated with good grades.
Mariamu
Mariamu is the wife of Qassim and the mother to Khalifa. Mariamu is a hardworking black woman who spends most of her time doing agriculture to support her husband in educating Khalifa. Some of the crops grown by Mariamu included tomatoes, potatoes, and okra. She later died of malaria infection.
Colonel Wissmann
Wissman is a German general ensuring government operations are working as scheduled. When the Bushiri uprising came up, Wissmann ended the revolution.
Hashim and Gulab
Hashim and Gulab were Indian brothers doing the business of money lending. They employed Khalifa in their merchant business to help them interpret commissions and interest before they entered into serious business deals.
Amur Biashara
Amur Biashara is a merchant well-known to Khalifa. In his ten years working with the Hashim and Gulab brothers, he often interacts with Biashara because he is a major client of the bank. However, Biashara knows Khalifa's potential, and he offers him a small bride to fish him out of the bank. Biashara also offers a better salary and better working conditions. Khalifa describes Biashara as a humble man who is generous, honest, and soft-spoken.
Ilyas
The German soldiers steal Ilyas while he is a young boy. The Germans assimilate him by teaching him the German language. The German soldiers want to use Ilyas as a source of cheap labor. Later Ilyas goes to search for a job in a sisal plantation before he escapes to return home to search for his family. When Ilyas arrives home, he finds his parents missing and discovers his sister is enslaved.
Afiya
Afiya is Ilyas's sister. When Ilyas discovers that Afiya is enslaved, he rescues her. Later, Afiya meets Hamza, and they get married. However, the marriage is later interrupted when the war breaks, and Hamza is taken to fight alongside the German soldiers.
Hamza
Hamza was captured as a small child and taken by German soldiers, where he was trained to fight as a military man. He later escaped and married Afiya. However, Hamza was captured again and taken to fight for the Germans when the war broke up.
