One day several bills came to pay and since a curfew had been imposed after the riots in Omashu in Jinsha and other cities, Genji's mother could no longer do her night work. Other than that Genji occasionally wrestled in the Sandbox a ring where Sandbenders fight each other for prize money and did jobs for a thug named Malik.
To help his mother pay the bills, he dropped out of school to do odd jobs here and there, and then began to work permanently in the Old Lao's repair shop. A year later Khotan left them to return to the desert and Genji found himself the man of the house. Thus it was that Genji and his family found themselves forced to live in the city of Jinsha.
The sandbenders tribes held out as best they could, but dozens of them were driven out of their homeland, including the Hami tribe. In 204 AG, the Earth Federation, the new government that had replaced Earth Kingdom, found itself overwhelmed by economic problems and to create more jobs and revive the economy decided to invade the Si Wong desert to exploit the fields. At one point Genji turned out to be a bender and his father trained him. Genji was born into the Hami tribe, a group of nomads who lived in the Si Wong desert from Khotan and Zahra.