I had showed up for my monthly meeting with President Collins and he wanted to know how I was settling in and whether I liked the American food. As a 19 year-old Kenyan dealing with some cold (this was September and I thought it was cold!) and culture shock, I told him “I am having a hard time getting used to the American food.” He asked me, “what is your favorite Kenyan food?” I said, “rice and beans”. He then said “I will have you teach the catering staff how to cook rice and beans and you can just call them an hour before dinner time and they will make this for you.” We then walked to then “Robro” cafeteria where I showed them and wrote a recipe on how to make the Kenyan rice and beans. This is how I survived fall 2011 at Clarkson as a freshman. With time I got to like the food here but I could not have had a smooth transition without Pres. Collins intervention. He truly cared for me.
I do with you and Karen all the best.
Joanina Gicobi ’15