At the 2003 IAAF World Cross Country Championships she had her highest placing, coming fourth and taking the team title with medalists Werknesh Kidane and Merima Denboba. She also made it an Ethiopian 1–2 in the 10,000 metres at the 2003 Afro-Asian Games, where she was runner-up to Ejegayehu Dibaba. In spite of a poor showing at the 2004 World Cross Country, she won her first major title at the 2004 African Championships in Athletics, defeating all comers to take the 10,000 m gold medal. Kuma set her 10,000 m personal best that year in Utrecht, Netherlands, running a time of 31:25.46 minutes. This also translated to success on the roads: she came sixth at the 2004 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships and led a team of Bezunesh Bekele and Teyba Erkesso to the gold medal. She ran sparingly in 2005 and had a break in her running career until 2009.