KENYA FIELDS
January 27th, 2017
Kenya’s dreams live in her eyes and are given hope in the beam of her smile. It was evident in the way she talked to me about her dreams of opening her own sub shop after going to culinary school. “I wanna actually see how far I can take it, ‘cus again I am so excited about this,” she chuckled, “I am. I already have like my recipes and menus and stuff… I just sit some nights and just write this stuff out. And a lot of my recipes are off the top of my head… that I’ve created from scratch.” She went on to say that her employment at the University was an opportunity for learning more, but she planned on taking what she had learned to forge a new, creative path for herself. “This is like a starter kit,” she explained. However, this is not to say that she hasn’t made good memories here.
Kenya has been working in at the University of Rochester for 13 years. She first came to work for the university when she was 19 years old but took some years off to figure out what she wanted to do. She had an independent lifestyle at a young age that required her not only to look after herself, but her other siblings as well. Now she prides herself on raising her eleven-year-old daughter and draws inspiration from seeing the everyday hustle and bustle of college students. Kenya noted, “I always see you moving, you’re always moving,” she laughs when she sees my embarrassed grin, “You got your bookbag, you’re prepared for your day. I don’t know it’s just — I grow on you guys and you grow on me. I love seeing that. I always —when I see you — am like ‘Ugh, I want my baby to be just like her.’ I just want her to be motivated and just ready to go. I wanna feel safe when I let her leave home.” It was a surprising and touching moment for me; I didn’t realize that I was being watched or that I was a reminder of what others hoped for in their little ones. I think that this is privilege that many of us college kids have access to—being able to live the dreams that have yet to bloom for others. When students show their understanding of this, it can create more beautiful and memorable exchanges between people. There were two memories that Kenya was especially fond of:
“Last year, I worked the Burrito Bowl last year and… I got here at 10 o’clock everyday… we didn’t open up until 10:30 but I had these guys every day waiting on me, for me to make their food. So, you know, they told me I made the best quesadillas. So I’m like, ‘Okay, well, if ya’ll want me make you quesadillas in the morning… I get here at 10 o’clock, so I can probably make your food at exactly 10:30 when the food starts getting out.’ So I did this every day for them and they would come to my area and wait… Their last day here, the day before graduation, they brought me… these guys spend a $100 dollars [worth of wine] on me. I still have the bottle of wine sitting at home too… that was amazing because I didn’t even realize they were that appreciative.”
Her other memory was of a young girl that was from Kenya who was a fan of Kenya’s double egg and cheese sandwich. “Her last walk she didn’t even walk, she didn’t go to the graduation. She had been over here for four years. She hadn’t seen her parents… I don’t even think any siblings or anything. She didn’t go across the stage, she just wanted her diploma in the mail. She took off that day and she came down — and I still have this card… she had hand made a card for me. And she never knew my name because I had my apron flipped down, but when found out my name she like drew out the little country Kenya on the card and she had her name on the bottom of it. I opened up the card and it was just like, ‘Thank you for making my double egg and cheese sandwiches every morning and it tasted the same way every morning and I just wanted to tell you thank you.’ That was so sweet.” She went on to say how much she loved home-made cards and that she had procured many of them in her 13 years at the university.
Memories like these and others are what help to get Kenya through her 10 hour days, especially when the pressure is on and it doesn’t seem like she (and others) are being appreciated by upper administration. “I’m ready for the rest of my life… and it won’t be here. I want a big house with a garden, with a pond… nothing much, I don’t want to be a millionaire.” I hope she achieves her dream.