A game came out of Africa to the New World, an ancient game brought to the Caribbean sugarcane plantations by enslaved Africans in the seventeenth century. The game resembles a blend of cricket and baseball but is played with sticks. My brother and I learned the game when our family moved to a small sugarcane mill town in Cuba. There we met Don Manuel, an Afro-Cuban elder who worked as a security guard at the railroad yard. This narrative chronicles my coming of age in a unique hybrid culture while learning the ancient African game of Kimbumba and my childhood memories linked to Don Manuel's stories and teaching of the game.

 Don Manuel told us about the game’s origins and the legend of its creator, Kimbu. The story has been passed down through oral tradition to generations of young African Congo villagers. I’ve always wanted to write about these pivotal years of my youth and tell the game’s story, but more significantly, I’ve always wanted to share the stories that our Afro-Cuban friend told my brother and me. But life has a way of delaying our goals; thus, it has taken me nearly seventy years to write this narrative.

Don Manuel’s family roots are traced back to the African Congo, where they were abducted and brought to Cuba to work as enslaved people on sugarcane plantations. The story is his intimate account of their sacrifices to gain their freedom. He also taught us to play this ancient game, culminating in a blazing championship match in a sugarcane mill town. All of these experiences are woven into the tapestry of my youth. So, I have attempted to capture fleeting moments that might otherwise be lost in time, like raindrops in the ocean.