From street kid to kung fu crusader

A chance encounter with a Chinese worker set a poverty-stricken Cameroonian child on an unlikely path to fulfillment

Fabrice Mba grew up in poverty on the streets of the southern Cameroonian town of Sangmelima. With his single mom unable to properly take care of him, 8-year-old Fabrice left for the capital Yaounde with his elder sister in 1987. Little did he know back then, this would be the start of his journey to Shaolin enlightenment.

Every morning, little Fabrice saw a Chinese man performing slow-motion movements on the square of the Yaounde Conference Center－a landmark building in the city, which was built in the 1980s with Chinese aid money. He and his friends－all barefoot and wearing torn T-shirts－soon began to imitate the foreigner. "It was very beautiful," recalled Fabrice.

One day, the man summoned Fabrice and his buddies and asked them to try to assume a specific posture－knees slightly bent and arms positioned as if holding onto a tree trunk. "We stood facing the wall. It hurt our feet, shoulders and arms so much that my friends fled and I was left alone," said Fabrice.