Kumi Amaechi

In Gambia

Kumi’s earliest memories were back in Gambia, surrounded by people he called his family. They lived within a tight-knit community of herbivores where parenting was a shared duty amongst the adults. There were around twenty-five families of varying sizes, and each one specialized in a skill that would, in some way, help better the village. Kumi’s family dealt mainly in basket weaving where the women would extract, clean, dye, and weave baskets while the men dealt with gathering raffi, African bamboo, and basket distribution. His immediate family consisted of his mother, father, aunt, uncle, their two daughters, and his grandmother. His family spent most of their time making baskets to be sold and traded to the neighboring villages in exchange for daily goods and necessities. No one in the village questioned their way of living as, to many of them, this life was all they knew.

However, Kebba was different. He was not a man of the village nor even a man of Gambia. He was an outsider, brought in through his marriage with Fanta. He was not well liked by his wife’s family, and was considered an unfit husband due to his non-existent family background, being born further south of the continent. The Anteater was a man of ideas, ideas that lead him away from tradition and to more modern means of development. While most, including Fanta, were content in honing their skills, providing for their families, and living their day to day, Kebba sought something more. He wanted to leave Africa, to go somewhere where he could provide for his family without having to slave away for a few pieces of fruit and grain. However, Fanta’s family was against her leaving the village because it was unheard of for a young woman with child to leave her family behind. And so the village is where they stayed.

Fanta’s family had kept them in the village for years, allowing a young Kumi to grow and develop. Only 4, Kumi was graced with a sense of adventure and wild imagination that got him into all sorts of trouble. To Kumi, the gathered raffia was a dense forest with monsters lurking about, a newly woven basket was his shield, and Baba’s cooking spoon was his spear. The child caused all kinds of mayhem for his family, but regardless, they loved him dearly. As a child, Kumi didn’t remember seeing his father much, the young anteater being raised predominately by his mother and grandmother. He knew what Kebba looked like as he returned home from time to time, baring gifts from foreign lands. A rectangular piece of metal that played music when you blew into it, a plastic man that moved and spoke at the press of a button, and even a rectangular glass box that displayed pictures and produced sound. Though the glass box was a gift Kumi wasn’t allowed to touch, that solely belonged to his father. Other than that, his father’s gifts showed him the wonders of the world beyond their village. Despite his intrigue, Kumi’s grandmother and the rest of their family despised Kebba’s presents. They were unnecessary and did nothing to promote the village or their family stability, so, in their eyes, Kebba’s trinkets were a waste of time and resources. Kumi did not understand why they were against his father or his presents, but that wouldn’t matter as Kebba would eventually convince Fanta to leave the village and move to a land across the sea.

They moved just before Kumi’s 5th birthday. Their journey was a start of many firsts for both Fanta and her son. Kebba dressed them in weird garments that covered almost all of their body, then they rode in a steel monster that ran faster than even the fastest runner of their village. From the metal monster they hopped into the stomach of a white dragon with wings so stiff that Kumi had to wonder how it even lifted itself off the ground, let alone fly. There were so many questions in the child’s mind, but all his father did was tell him to wait, and wait he did. It took nearly a whole day to reach their new home, but soon they exited the dragon’s stomach and onto new land. Kumi nearly fainted from sensory overload, the city bustling with metal monsters, a slew of different animals, and even a steel centipede. Kebba assured his son that everything was fine, and the three of them would learn to make a new life together. With that, they began settling into their new life in a foreign land with only Kebba to guide them.

Settling in Doveport

Kebba was a businessman. All the times he left the village was to explore new business ventures that would eventually lead him and his family away from tradition and hardship to that of luxury. A colleague of his in Africa had told him of a booming business within the large city for foreign jewelry, exoticism selling for a high price in the city’s markets. Having saved enough funds through the course of many years, he purchased a small jewelry store in the center of Doveport’s bustling marketplace. At first business was booming. Kebba had his hands full with customers wanting new and seemingly rare stones crafted into jewelry. Sadly, this momentum didn’t last for more than a few months as the crave for pretty stones died down almost immediately. Stones were no longer the leading trend, and, except for a few customers who found spiritual use for his wears, nobody was buying.

This was only a minor setback for the anteater as he was determined to promote his business, but determination and optimism can only get a man so far. Soon, he’d find out the true hardships that came with owning a business. With no buyers and little to no income, it became harder for him to keep his doors open. It eventually led to Kebba following a friend's advice to take out a business loan from a shady money laundering company. Normally, Kebba would be more selective for these types of transactions, however, desperation took hold of him and so he agreed to terms he didn’t fully understand. He would later discover this would be the worst mistake of his life as the interest rates were so high it could almost be considered highway robbery. However, he signed the contract, and so he could only hope that his business would pick itself up and take care of the rest for him. A hopeful thought that bore no fruit as his marketing attempt ended in disaster, his debt skyrocketing as a result. Kebba’s life was filled with losses one after the other. While Kebba began to face the reality of his situation, his family was none the wiser.

Fanta worked mostly as a stay-at-home mother and raised her son with the utmost care, just as she and her mother did before. However, life in the city was different from what she was used to. She knew no one and understood nothing. She couldn’t go out and converse with others because she barely knew the language, solely relying on Kebba’s rough translations to make it through the day. Kumi too found his new lifestyle hard to deal with. Yes, he enjoyed this new world, but, like his mother, he felt isolated. Kids here didn’t understand him, nor did they know of the games he loved to play back in Gambia. His words fell on deaf ears every time he spoke, and so he found himself playing alone most of the time. Fanta became highly aware of how poorly the two of them were adapting to their new lifestyle. Unlike Gambia, she couldn’t rely on her brother-in-law or sister for help. Kebba was unreliable as well, her husband spending most of his time working at his store. Taking matters into her own hands, Fanta began teaching Kumi and herself Japanese.

It was incredibly difficult at first. There were barely any books that translated Mandinka into Japanese, and the ones that did were too advanced for her to read. Kebba helped a little, teaching her the basic writing system although their meaning still eluded her. Regardless, she did not let herself be swayed by negative thoughts and faced the challenges head on. Kumi and Fanta learned together through books, Kebba, and their conversations with their neighbors and the neighborhood kids. Surprisingly, Kumi picked up the language faster than Fanta, and helped to teach his mother when she was stuck on a letter or phrase. Through their hard work, Fanta was able to passably speak the language while Kumi, with the added help of school, was able to speak almost fluently. As fluent as a 5 year old child could. Proud of their success, the two assimilated a little better into their new lives, unaware of the heartache that would soon plague their happy home.

As Fanta and Kumi happily lived together, Kebba slowly fell into depression. The anteater had sold the store and now worked multiple jobs to help support his family while also working to pay his crippling debt. Ashamed at his own failure, he had kept all talk of losing his business under wraps. He hadn’t the nerve to tell Fanta that the business that should have secured their lives and Kumi’s future had failed. He didn't want to admit that they would have been better off back at the village, and that her family had been right about him all along. So, he kept this to himself and lied about his new employment. Despite his silence, Fanta knew when something was wrong with her husband. She could see him grow thinner by the day, the spark that once captivated her no longer there. She tried to speak with him about it, asking him how he was fairing and how his business was going, but he never said anything more than fine. It wouldn’t be until Kebba came home in a drunken stupor that she’d find out the truth.

Kebba had lost it all. Drunk lips unable to conceal his shame, he cried to his wife who only gave whispers of comfort. All the lies, the humiliation, all of it, he spilled to Fanta on that night. Kumi listened in his room in confusion, not knowing what his father’s tear filled words meant. However, all he knew was that his father was hurt, and so he joined his parents and gave his father a hug, Kebba’s weeping growing louder at the touch of his son. Having told his wife the truth, Kebba tried lifting himself up and continued working towards his debt. Fanta, who no longer had to watch Kumi who now attended school, also took a side job of making baskets for an old antique store. If they worked through this together, Fanta was sure that the three of them would be okay. Kebba did not share this sentiment as he could not push away his failures from his mind. The thought of him making his wife work and his failed business ate away at him. Soon, he found himself turning to gambling in order to pay back their dues, and when gambling didn’t help he turned to drinking.

Their life began falling apart. Kebba often came home drunk, bursting into fits of rage, before breaking down into tears. Kumi was always too scared to leave his room when his father became this way. Fanta tried to keep strong for the both of them, but the stress of work along with her husband's alcoholism eventually wore her down. The optimism she once had faded just as her love for Kebba did. Much like her husband, depression took Fanta as she could no longer feign happiness in front of Kumi who remained blissfully ignorant of their hardships. Eventually, Fanta had enough of Kebba, and began saving the money she earned to return home to where her family awaited her. In her sadness, she began lashing out at Kumi much like Kebba did to her. Those moments were always brief, but whenever she found herself doing it, she hugged her son and apologized. It wasn’t his fault, and even though she knew that, she couldn’t stop herself releasing her frustrations onto him. Soon, she had saved enough money to buy herself a plane ticket back to Africa. With a heavy heart, Fanta made her decision.

That night, Kebba would not return home due to his gambling addiction. Fanta had packed all of her things and went to Kumi. She woke him from his sleep, and hugged him. Kumi, who was still half asleep, hugged his mother lazily in return. Fanta kissed her son goodnight one last time, not having saved enough for the two of them, and quietly walked into the dead of night. When Kebba returned, he saw all his wife's belongings missing, yet found Kumi still asleep in his room. It was here he realized that Fanta had left him alone to raise their 7 year old son. Although Kebba was a mess with Fanta still around, it was her presence that kept him from sinking lower than he already had. Now, his inhibitions were gone. Depression, crippling debt, and now his wife's disappearance had pushed him over the breaking point. However, Kumi would remember none of what happened, his next memory being in a hostpital bed at the tender age of 10.

A New Life

Kumi went in and out of consciousness for about a week. He would catch glimpses of light along with black and grey blurs before falling unconscious again. When he finally managed to stay awake long enough to gain a semblance of awareness, he panicked. Nurses held him down as he frantically tried to escape, the sight of IV drips stuck in his arm accompanied by the unfamiliar smell and people scared him. Where was his mother and father? Why did it hurt so much to move? Who were these people, and why wouldn’t they let him leave? The nurses eventually calmed him down with general anesthesia, putting the child back to sleep.

The hospital staff didn’t know what to do with Kumi. When the child awoke again, he was calmer than before, but he refused to both speak and eat. They didn’t know who he was or how he came to them so badly injured. His reluctance to eat became concerning as he was already malnourished when he arrived, but now he was to the point of starvation. They began force feeding him however they could, whether it was through his mouth or an IV drip, they had to nourish his body some way. As the days passed and Kumi wasn’t showing any progress, doctors called in a local therapist to talk with him, another anteater but of a different species. They thought their similarities would provide the child some comfort, and it did. When the woman walked in, he felt a sort of familiarity that reminded him much of his aunt.

The two conversed little by little, Kumi slowly opening up to her. The doctors had informed the therapist, who Kumi called Baba despite introducing herself as Claire, that he had to be around 9 or 10. However, from their conversation, she deduced that his mental age couldn’t have been more than 6 or 7. Kumi had told her about where he came from, his family and what they did together. He remembered coming on a white dragon, as he called it, when he was 5 and that his mother and father, whose name he couldn’t remember, came with him. The child could recall his life when they first moved to Doveport, but everything else was a mystery. Whenever he tried to think about what happened to him, he’d go into a state of unrest and panic. It was apparent to Claire that whatever Kumi had seen before their meeting was a source of great trauma for him. The child would probably have symptoms of PTSD, Kumi already known to have terrible nightmares and extreme panic attacks. Claire did her best to help rehabilitate him and within a year's time, Kumi would be healthy enough to be moved to an orphanage where he would later be adopted by a pair of aardvarks.

Life without his parents was stressful. Though his adoptive parents were nice, he could never truly be their son. Kumi understood that he probably would never see his parents again, but that didn’t make it hurt any less. When he first moved in, he caused a lot of problems for the aardvarks. He’d break things around the house, hide his adoptive father’s, Musa, belongings all over the place. He would even make trouble for his wife, Nayo, making a mess whenever he ate or just made a mess somewhere in the house. He thought by doing this, they would send him back so that his real parents could find him. However, they never did. Instead, they apologized for things that weren't their fault, and told him that everything was fine. When he accidentally spilled tea on Nayo’s arm, instead of scolding him, she hugged him and told him she was okay. Kumi began to feel guilty for his actions, and broke down in front of them. Although they would never replace his real parents, he could at least try to be their son..

With every little small success rose an even bigger problem. Although Kumi and the aardvarks' relationship got significantly better, there was nothing they could do about his recurring nightmares. When they adopted him, the director informed them that he would be suffering from severe PTSD after his near death experience with a carnivore, or so they were told. They watched as the child fought off invisible enemies in his sleep until he woke up in a pool of his own sweat. The doctor prescribed him antidepressant for when his fits became severe, but they were never a guarantee and worked about 60% of the time. When asked about his nightmares, Kumi could never remember what it was he saw, only that it was dark and painful. Musa, seeing the fear in his son’s eyes, decided to try something different. Pulling out an old harp-like instrument from his closet, Musa tried to lull Kumi to sleep with a song passed down from his father. Though he was born in Dovepart, Musa’s grandfather was born in West Africa. He found tradition and culture to be the most important aspect of his life and so his grandfather taught his father how to play the kora, who eventually taught him, and now would be passed on to Kumi.

Musa started off by strumming a small tune before playing more elaborate melodies. Kumi, who was scared of sleeping at the time, found the melody to be soothing and somewhat familiar. That night, Kumi had pleasant dreams of home, surrounded by his family. They tried this a few more nights, Kumi falling peacefully asleep after each session. Seeing how effective music was on his symptoms, Musa and Nayo bought the anteater a pair of headphones that were comfortable to wear in bed. Although this didn’t necessarily mean that he wouldn’t go into a panic attack, there was at least some comfort in knowing that it helped.

p>Learning how to better deal with his symptoms, and finally being able to accept living with his adoptive parents, it was now time for Kumi to re-enter school. The last time he remembered going to school was when he was 6, but that was 5 years ago. Now he was 11 and was far behind his peers academically. His parents decided to first hire a private tutor who would teach him all the basics subjects. Kumi would be taught privately all the way up to freshman year of high school. Initially, transitioning from home schooling to public was incredibly weird. He couldn’t get used to being around other people his age and participating in class was increasingly difficult. It would take him a while, but he would find his place within the school soon enough. Eventually he would graduate high school, and tried to take the entrance exam to the same university that Musa attended when he was younger. However, he failed on his first 3 attempts. His parents were supportive of him, but told him that he didn’t have to go to the same school as Musa if he didn’t want to. Despite that, he continued trying, wanting to pay them back in some way for raising him all this time. It would be on his 4th attempt where he’d finally be accepted into Cherryton to begin his new life.