David Good thought his mom was like any other New Jersey housewife. It wasn't until he got older that he realized the truth about his mom: his mother Yarima was born 3,000 miles away in a Venezuelan jungle. In this Yanomama territory near the Orinoco Rivers were some of the most isolated communities on the planet. This is where Yarima is from. So how did she end up in New Jersey? David's father, Kenneth Good, an anthropologist, studied in the area.
Kenneth met Yarima and they returned to the States together in 1986. Yarima adapted to her new home quickly. "It was like she went through a time machine or through a portal and went through a whole different cosmos," David says. While David knew his mom came from a faraway village he never really noticed that she was any different than any other mom. "I don't remember being cognizant of the fact that she was this Amazonian jungle woman," he says. "No, she was just mom to me."
After having three children with Kenneth, and spending six years in the U.S., Yarima went to visit her family back home. She decided to stay — without her children. "I internalized it as abandonment, as a kid," David says. "I felt like I wasn't good enough for her." David, understandably, held the grudge against his mother for 15 years. Then one day, that all changed. David went to visit his mother in the Amazon. If Demetrius Gayton can forgive the mother who tried to kill him, then it doesn't surprise me that David could forgive his mother.
"All of a sudden, just remembering that comforting feeling of having a mother — and that's when I just — I broke down and lost it," David said when he saw his mother for the first time in years. David now visits his mother regularly. "A mom's a mom, no matter what," he said.
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