NABULUNGI: I’m 5′6″, about as tall as Arnold! For the height of my fellow villagers, here’s a chart we refer to!
((also, thank you for the compliment, im flattered!! by the way, these heights and the looks of each villager is not canon, some i just flat out designed out of nowhere, some are based on some actors. but you can use the heights!! another thing, the name darlesia isnt seen in the original book and has unknown origins but asmeret’s name is seen so,, i kinda used both their names for one character,,))
Y'all I fucking love the villagers so much and I'm sad no one talks about them a lot??
So have some headcanons under the cut.
Nabulungi
- She loves flowers, like, a lot. She's very fascinated with them, so much so she started her own flower-crown making shop. At the same time, this place kinda is a mini book shop because Arnold started writing a lot so he'd make up maybe small short stories for the villagers to practice reading. The shop has this Tumblr-aesthetic feel to it, and when Arnold brought Nabulungi back to the US, I think they'd open up a proper book-flower crown store.
- I would think that Nabulungi might be pansexual, so with that, she used to date Sadaka when they were in their mid-teens. They might've thought at some point their best-friendship can excel even more, but after three months, they decided it was a platonic relationship. Nabulungi and Sadaka kinda are sensitive about this topic, so they don't bring it up that often. Though, after a week, they turned to be best friends again and never plan to break their friendship.
- She probably is the best English-speaker in her village (and maybe one of the best in Uganda who knows) and usually Nabulungi might hold some English-teaching lessons for the Ugandans. That's probably how they learned how to speak English.
- With her typewriter, I like to think she holds a small journal with pages made out of her typewriter. The journal contains all the thoughts of Nabulungi with her experience in Kitguli along with the elders (and maybe the rest of the villagers too).
- When the general turned good and returned all the stolen things, Arnold got his camera back. At some point he probably took a video of Nabulungi and fell in love. So, Arnold probably started asking Nabulungi to model in some of his pictures.
- Though I like the thought of Nabulungi having an interest in flowers, I think she'd be a great nurse as well. With most of the village suffering a disease, I'd like to think Nabulungi is always there to help them. She loves the village so much (they're like her family) and always checks on everyone if they're feeling okay or not. This probably started when Mafala, her father, started getting sick frequently. Nabulungi likes caring for him, and eventually her interest in helping people grew.
Sadaka
- Sadaka usually gets nicknames from the villagers and the elders for some reason, and she's used to it. It's started with her father (I headcanon her father to be Gotswana) who called her "Sazzy Dazzy" and "Stardaka" in public and people just kept adding on with nicknames. The elders like to call her "Sad Sad" as a joke (Connor said, "If Kevin calls me Con Con, you should be called Sad Sad!"), and her boyfriends liked to call her "Lioness", "Slaydaka", or simply "Sazz". Nabulungi once asked her what name she would change her name to if she had the opportunity, and Sadaka chose the name Bianca. Naba asked why and she just said she saw it in a magazine she found and liked it.
- Throughout her life, Sadaka had bad encounters with romance. First, it failed with Nabulungi, and then when Connor came around, she really really liked him, (but you know what happened to Connor). So, she was a bit heartbroken until she mean other Elders, starting with Elder Davis. They both kinda fell in love with their fondness towards animals, and then Elder Zelder came in and they kinda both had the same vigor and wildness. So, it kinda turned into a healthy poly relationship with the three.
- Sadaka has a love for animals. There's a pack of lions which she really loves and treats as family, but really, she can make friends with any animal. During wild animal attacks in the village, all the villagers needed to call was their "Animal Whisperer" and the animals would calm down immediately. (Also, Sadaka is accused of being a furry sometimes, which makes her furious.)
- With her fondness towards animals, Sadaka would want to become a vet. She knows the basics already, treating hurt wild animals, but she strives to learn more. Eventually, when she gets her studies right, she would love to open an animal clinic in the village so she can help the villagers love the animals instead of just plain out hate them.
- Since she wants to be a vet, she looks up to her father, Gotswana, a lot. Usually, when she was young, she would visit her father in the clinic and try to observe what he was doing to his patients, even if it was surgery. Gotswana was a big inspiration to Sadaka, so of course, she loves her dad very much.
- Sadaka is wild, like really wild. Despite her serious dreams, she likes to be informal all the time. She's sassy, she's cool, she's a prankster, she's just wild, like I said. She's like the rebel of the village, as she didn't really like the serious attitudes of the other villagers. So, she just wants to try her best adding some wild fun in the village.
Kimbay
- She and Elder Church have a very close mother-son relationship. I think Elder Church's and Kimbay's family members have died at some point (Church's mom and Kimbay's baby might've died from a sickness, Church's father is imprisoned, and Kimbay's husband was killed by the general) and they really supported each other through these tough times. They met in an accident, where Kimbay accidentally hurt Church too hard in a wrestling match, and basically everything escalates from there.
- I like to think Kimbay is a genius. She might be the brains of the village, usually helping people when they have some problem they can't solve. Basically, she's the problem-fixer, and with her wit, people appointed her to be the teacher of the school. As a teacher, she loved educating students and helping these students to strive for a future bigger than her own.
- Kimbay, knowing how bad the state of the village is, usually tries helping the village by maybe helping Kalimba with her cooking service and making simple clothes for the villagers. When the general used to steal their things, Kimbay alongside some other helpers try their best replacing the things the general has stolen like making food for them, making clothes that can replace the stolen ones, etc.
- The Book of Arnold was probably one of the biggest inspirations to her, and she probably is one of the main people who speaks out and proselytizes for her religion. It really had brought her hope. So, I think she would transfer from village to village alongside some friends she has and try their best spreading the religion to a lot of the villages in Uganda. But not every proselytizing session is a success, but when it is, she is the main one who baptizes the people into the religion.
- Kimbay is a strong woman and loves children a lot (since she is a teacher and all) and one time the village was rampaged by other warlords (this is post BoM) and in her part of protecting the village, she did her best fighting for the children. Thankfully, she succeeded, and scared of the warlords, leaving no one harmed.
- Kimbay also runs the Kafe from time to time, usually just there for the purpose of getting paid and help people go through stuff. She isn't fond of alcohol so she kinda thinks coffee is a better way of drowning your sorrows. She also likes giving some people counseling while they drink coffee. (maybe except for Elder Price, he was a fucking douche (but we all still love him))
Kalimba
- Darlesia and Kalimba are both in a relationship, both together since their early twenties. Their relationship isn't completely lovey-dovey and cute, though, they're usually rowdy and sassy, maybe playfully insulting each other daily. They like making fun of each other and out-sassing each other, but even with all these joke arguments, they love each other dearly.
- Kalimba is the main cook of the village and helps Mutumbo with the animals in the farm (mainly because that's her source of food). Her cooking's amazing and she doesn't like the American dishes the elders make so she teaches them how to make true Ugandan dishes.
- After the fear of warlords kinda toned down in the village, I like the concept of them actually starting to form a small group of leaders and defenders for their town. So, the idea of being the main leader or mayor or whatever came around and the villagers definitely wanted wanted some leader to help guide them. Mafala obviously ran for it, but with enough convincing from Darlesia, Kalimba ran for it too. Sadly, she didn't win, but she still is a vice leader who would help Mafala and the villagers when Mafala is down. (And she's pretty damn good at being a leader)
- The most popular dish in Kitguli is the infamous "Nsenene" which is basically fried crickets. Majority of the town love nsenene and tried cooking their own variation to the point that people wanted a Nsenene Day where they held a competition on who cooked the best fried cricket. Kalimba usually participates with the help of Darlesia and usually becomes the winner or gets a high place in the rankings. (Other villagers like Nabulungi and Mafala join, but also people who don't cook get to taste evertone's nsenene for free)
- Since Kimbay donates clothes, Kalimba donates food. She likes to make food for the really hungry people who can't afford food just because she wants to help others. She was at that state once when she was younger with her family dying, and she only had herself for support. She didn't want others to suffer the same fate as her.
- Kalimba loves to fuck with the elders--well, most of the villagers do too. But, she is the main initiator, usually just doing it out of boredom to just drive the elders insane. Once, she made a horde of pigs chase after the elders and they were left breathless.
Darlesia
- Darlesia likes to make bracelets out of simple materials. Each bracelet she makes has some secret symbolism through them, and she at least had given everyone in the village including the elders a bracelet that represents who they are.
- She runs a spa in the village which gets tons of business quickly. The village is always in distraught so people would come to her spa to just chill and relax.
- When Kalimba is grumpy, Darlesia is usually the sweetheart in these situations. She's very patient and stops joke arguing for a moment and does her massaging skills to help calm down the pissed off Kalimba. She'd lay on the bed and just massage her the way she likes it, then they sleep together right afterwards.
- Even if she fake argues with Kalimba a lot, she's a total sweetheart. She's like the mom of the village, usually the one who reminds everyone to stay healthy and be happy. She's usually the peace maker of the villager, usually helping angry villagers to relax. This is probably the reason why her spa is one of the best spas in Uganda.
- Darlesia has beautiful freckles and Nabulungi once told her that her freckles remind her of her mom. Nabulungi tells everyone with freckles that their freckles are like Skin Stars because they look like small stars on your face. Darlesia appreciates her freckles because of that. (Sometimes she also likes watching Connor because his freckles remind her of her own freckles.)
- Weekly, she has yoga sessions near a tree where she helps the villagers relax and stretch. She also has some breathing excercises to help them feel calm, and maybe she meditates as well just because she wants people to relax, damnit.
General Butt-Fucking Naked
- It was uneasy when the general first came in the village, people would glare at them or spat at them. But with some help from Mafala, Darlesia, Nabulungi, and the elders, they helped him and the other members change. One step that made them refreshen themselves a bit is to remove the nicknames they gave for themselves and use their real names, for the general, it was Koni. And as time passes, they became a part of the community, and a very important one as well.
- With the unused weapons, Mafala assigned them to be the defenders of the village. After convincing the village to turn the cave from a wrestling ring to a small police station, Kitguli had gotten a lot safer. When there was trouble, they'd rush to the rescue, especially when other warlords came to attack. They really improved themselves and changed for the village's safety.
- Weirdly enough, these people loved to dance. They thought it was weird when they were warlords so they ignored it, but when they were accepted in Kitguli, they held zumba sessions for the village to energize with them.
- The villagers, when they started to fully accept the gang, held a small feast for them and their changes. Koni was really shocked, as well as the rest, and was really touched by the occassion to the point Koni cried of happiness. They all hugged it out in the end anyway.
- okay but do u ever think their gang is like,,, a group of friends who are just "dude i would die for you but no homo"
- I also like to think they'd be badass rockstars. They probably just started people discovering Koni can play the guitar, then they realized the others can play instruments as well, so they just kinda rock out when there's a party.
Ghali
- He's like the old grandpa of the village, maybe that kind of person who would scream for you to get off of their lawn when you barely stepped in it. He's also that traditional wisdom person who would go "back in my day..." whenever he sees Nabulungi holding her typewriter or when anyone shows him new technology.
- He loves his religion because it actually gave him hope as an old person who has no family, but at the same time he dislikes some of the elders because he thinks they're irrationally too good looking to be an actual person. It's not like he's saying it likes the elders, but he's just somewhat in disbelief on how perfect they look. (it disturbs him, really, he thinks they're aliens)
- He probably is the conspiracy theorist of the group who believes in ghosts and aliens and all that. He usually looks out for Elder Neeley because he's scared that Neeley is an actual alien and has a twin alien. (hello welcome to kitguli unsolved where we solve unsolved mysteries and im elder ghali)
- People might think he's old and grumpy but when you really get to know him, he speaks of when he actually had a family and how happy he was before. But at some point he realizes that the village is basically his new family and becomes really thankful for everyone there helping him.
- He's probably the expert of Kitguli meaning he knows the history of his village and practically knows who everyone here is. If they need help solving a crime they usually ask Ghali for help identifying places and people in the village. With his knowledge of Kitguli, he eventually started being a detective helping Koni and his group fight for justice.
- Since he's usually alone and has nothing to do, he usually feeds stray dogs and cats who pass by his hut. Since he has some leftovers usually, he gives the cats and dogs food, eventually making the stray cats and dogs fond of him. He even started keeping some of the cats and dogs since he knows no one in the villgae (except maybe Sadaka) would actually keep and adopt these little critters.
Mafala
- After Nabulungi's mom (I named her mom Kamali) died, Mafala became a hardworking father for his daughter. He did his best to protect his sweet daughter from harm, even fighting off some warlords so that she wouldn't get hurt
- He has a history of fighting warlords since Kamali has died protecting Nabulungi from horrid warlords. He knows every single kind and he knows who these warlords are. He notes them down and tells the village to be wary of them. He also tries his best finding each of the warlords' weaknesses so he can help the village prepare for an attack when they come to the village.
- He and Gotswana are constantly arguing on who's the better daughter between Sadaka and Nabulungi. When they meet up, they would often bring up a new good thing their daughter has done and try to counter the other. These fight usually just end with them glaring at each other or Sadaka and Nabulungi would both be really disappointed at them for comparing the two (since, you know, they're best friends).
- He and Mutumbo constantly argue about this one damn chicken who each person claims is theirs. They usually fight for different objects that they claim is theirs, really, but it usually ends with one other villager complaining about the arguments and they would just get the item for themselves making neither person win the argument.
- He is very protective of the villagers and elders. He sacrifices and does his best for the safety of everyone, always putting himself last during dangerous situations. He claims that anything wrong that has happened to anyone will be his responsibility and he needs to take care of the problem himself.
- Without the elders and villagers knowing, he usually goes to Kampala and negotiate with the mission president at times. He is the reason why the elders probably still stick around because he does his best convincing the president that what they have done to the village was for the best and it really changed every person there to be happier. The president usually gets defeated in these negotiations and just continues to support the elders and give them funds.
Mutumbo
- After believing in the Book of Arnold, he had started making up better philosophies to believe in instead of believing in whatever his family believes. And these philosophies, inspired by the Book of Arnold, are usually changing him for the better, eventually making him the best speaker of the town. He usually preaches about the book and also does his best making a speech on his thoughts and interpretations.
- This also makes him a very good psychiatrist or counselor. His wisdom really grew to help people even the elders started seeking help from him when Gotswana's ways were too eh to them. His counseling actually works for his clients and eventually he a got a new job helping people through his words.
- Eventually, Nabulungi started letting him borrow her typewriter so that he can start writing out his speeches because people in the village really wanted to remember all his speeches. So, when he wrote all his speeches down, Arnold did his best putting it all in one book so that it can be a separate novel from the Book of Arnold.
- With his wisdom growing, he also started making comedic mockery towards the real leaders of Uganda. A lot of the villagers loathe their leaders because of their lack of action, so, he made this small play which mocked the leaders and it really amused the town. Despite that, he also wrote down different things he thought about Uganda's leaders and Uganda itself, questioning why things are like this and like that.
- If he doesn't write and he usually just starts thinking about what speeches he'll make, he usually gets a small tube floater and go to the lake to cool down. Once he's relaxed, he just stay there and brainstorm.
- He someday wants to pursue a career in writing with Arnold as his main inspiration. He wants to write about his small community, the Kitguli Village, and hope to publish it one day so people in the outside world could see the struggles they faced. He hoped he can make a difference to suffering villages like his so that poor countries like his can strive again.
Gotswana
- Though he's a bit of a douchebag, this guy knows his stuff. That's probably why he became a doctor. As a child, he strived to finish his education and actually go to college. When he got his degree, he went back to Kitguli so that he can become a doctor and actually start helping the village. And it did change a lot, less people would get sick because of him, and he would make small talks to the village on how to keep healthy and live longer.
- He lost his wife to the same reason on why Mafala lost his wife, through terrible warlords. Despite the arguments, Mafala and him like to talk about their struggles as single parents and they just liked to talk about how proud they were of their daughters instead of arguing for once.
- Since he's a doctor, he's probably the richest in the town, and actually has a generator in his hut. He doesn't have many electrical appliances, but he does have a few. So, some villagers like to sneak in just to use them because they're usually lazy to do it the traditional way. Gotswana, at some point, got used to it even if they were sneaking in at 3AM.
- Because of his generator, when it is hot in Uganda, the villagers reverse camp inside the room where it has air conditioning. Even if it might be an invasion on Gotswana and Sadaka's personal space, it was nice to have friends over for socializing once in a while.
- They actually have wifi. So, the elders come over with maybe cheap phones and computers and usually call their families from the US there with Skype. Sometimes, though, Gotswana likes pulling pranks on them while they call, like acting like there's something wrong happening so they can scare the parents, or maybe insert himself in the conversation and say something horrible like "oh the lions are out today by the way".
- As a doctor, he pledges that he someday will find a way to cure the diseases the villagers are suffering through. The main reason he actually wanted to become a doctor is to help the village he grew up in. Even if he's far from reaching his goal, he still works on it, hoping to end the diseases once and for all.
I HAVE FINALLY COMPILED PICTURES OF SOME UGANDANS THAT CAN ACT AS REFERENCES
im so sorry if some of these pictures are a bit blurry! if you have clearer pictures, maybe reblog and add them/post them!! and also if some information here are wrong, feel free to correct me!! and each picture does not have the same cast,, i used some from the chicago boot, some idk. this is not complete tho, some characters are unnamed (everything under the cut!)
Butcher
-has a chicken
-husband of Kimbay
-killed by the General
Darlesia
-says "Elder Cunningham... I just want to say we are very happy Heavenly Father brought you here."
General
-also named "Koni"
Ghali
Gotswana
-the doctor
-has maggots in their scrotum
-was supposed to cut their daughter's clitoris in making things up again (mtua)
Kalimba
-says "oh, like the Chinese!"
-lives in the hut Arnold and Kevin tried going to
-played by the famous Maia Wilson
-(one of the pictures has kimbay in it, ignore that)
Kimbay
-mother of the child
-wife of the dead butcher
-the teacher
Mafala
-one of the five main characters
-father of Nabulungi
-very protective of Nabulungi
-amazing father
Middala
-the one who was going to rape a baby in mtua
-says "Just like the way the Hobbits all stood up to Brigham Young’s killers!"
Mutumbo
-that asshole in Hasa Diga who raped a baby
-some people in their family says sleeping with a virgin will cure their AIDs
special thanks to: @vi-writes-bom , @tvheit , and @the-pits-of-disclaire for some ideas !!
• Elder Church and Kimbay have a very special mother-son relationship. James’ mother and Kimbay’s son might die at some point so they comfort each other.
•Gotswana is the only one in the village who has a generator so tons of villagers have a sleepover around it without informing him.
•Since Gotswana has a generator, sometimes, the villagers sneak in his house and just use his things. They don’t steal them, they might just borrow his toaster at 1AM to just get toast.
• The villagers like to wrestle. A lot. The elders do that too and at some point Elder Church tried wrestling Kimbay. He was hurt. A lot. And so they banned wrestling with the villagers.
• Mutumbo and Mafala, after the butcher dies, fight for this chicken a lot. They claim to own said chicken, so they just steal the chicken from each other from time to time. At the end, Kalimba just cooked it up.
•Sadaka is an extreme animal magnet. She might just hangout with a group of lions in the middle of the day or mess around with pigs. Elder Davis and her are great friends.
•Nabulungi helps Kimbay teach in school. The children love to play soccer a lot, and sometimes, the elders get involved. It’s serious when Kimbay joins though, she’s an absolute beast.
• Kalimba is a genius chef. She might just get the worst of ingredients and turn it into a masterpiece. Kevin also loves learning recipes from her, but both of them like to have a sass off with each other while cooking.
• McKinley would gather all the villagers and create different productions of musicals. Their props are Ugandan-ized like Joseph Smith America Moses. The first thing they did was Wicked, Nabulungi as Elphaba, Darlesia as Glinda, and Middala as Fiyero.
• Some of the children in the school might have no fathers and when some elders offered to help the school some asked if they could be their pretend fathers.
• The men of the village drink at least four times a week at 1-5AM and love to pester the missionaries/whole village. Sometimes, the girls can come a long as well. One time, they were so drunk the busted through one of the windows of the mission hut and poured water all over the missionaries.
• They love to pull pranks on the elders. A lot. One time, they let their cow herd just chase everyone all at once.
• They have a fiesta once a month to celebrate how far they’ve achieved and how they were able to survive. It’s just full of music, happiness, food, and dancing. They really relish being alive in such a war torn place, so they are very grateful.
• They reenact some scenes from the Book of Arnold like if it were a musical/puppet show. They do these at least once every two months.
•Darlesia loves to make necklaces, mats, clothes, etc. with everyone in the village. Sometimes, when she’s extremely bubbly or happy, she gives everyone a necklace to show her appreciation. Before the elders leave, she all made them handkerchiefs with their names sewed on it and bracelets which are made with rocks that represent each person.
•Sometimes, when the elders proselytize, Ghali joins the elders and tries his best teaching them Swahili.
•Sadaka and Nabulungi love to fangirl about the elders. They can talk about how hot they are at times and just watch them proselytize all day. They also match make. They were probably the first McPriceley shippers among the district.
•Mutumbo loves relaxing in the nearby lake at times, using some old floaters he has to just sit there and cool off. At some point, Middala found out, and followed his lead. Everyone else then continued to follow, the lake packed with Ugandans cooling off. They sometimes play with the fish there too.
•Darlesia and Kalimba? A blessed couple. Let’s ship some Ugandans, shall we?
•After the general converts religions, he abandons his hideout. After a while, they suggest they’ll turn the hideout into a wrestling arena. And they did make it their secret wrestling arena. The poor general is weak, and Mutumbo? A god.
•The general and his team probably started a zumba class every morning. Don’t ask me why he started dancing, maybe it’s their original dream. They just… Are good in dancing.
•Kevin Price has severe anxiety and Gotswana tries his best in helping him but his therapies are very… Mendel. Surprisingly, Mutumbo is really great with helping Kevin and Kevin goes with Mutumbo instead.
•One day, the villagers tries to say “fuck” 1000 times a day. They succeeded.
•Before, when Nabulungi wasn’t born and when her parents weren’t together, her mother probably fell in love with a Christian missionary.
•Nabulungi’s mother’s name is Kamali, and let’s just say she really brought peace and justice for the village. She always has the tendency to talk back against generals before, and took down one and killed them.
•Nabulungi’s mom has freckles and it shines on her skin. She told Nabulungi that these were called skin stars because of the light effect on her dark skin. (This is from a fanfiction)
•Every month, they have a small remembrance day to everyone who had died on their village. In the middle of the village, they write notes, have flowers, and throw it all there. It’s a really sad day, something different than what we see from the villagers. The elders sometimes join in to commemorate their own losses.
•During rains, they love to go outside and dance. Rains are really special to them, like it was a blessing. They’re kinda required to be outside and celebrate the rain because of how important rain is to them.
•Before the elders leave, the villagers did one last musical together. They did a musical based on everything the elders/villagers has done together. It’s a full legit 3 hour musical, well written, great props, and just broadway-worthy.
