During the closing decade of the 80s, I set out on a low-cost journey to Europe with a companion. Because my companion was interested in enrolling in graduate studies in NYC, we had planned a 14-day stopover there before heading to London.
We got to the graduate housing, a large multi-story edifice on the Upper West Side called International House. After dropping our bags, we made our way to the dining hall, where we grabbed food, sat down, and started talking to people eating there.
Beside me was an individual of Iraqi origin enrolled in an engineering program at an Ivy League institution. He asked me what I did, and I explained that I had just graduated with a scientific background and had been working on studies with electron microscopy.
He mentioned that there was an microscopy facility at Columbia University – right next door to the engineering faculty, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He recommended that I should apply for a position with them. I laughed it off, telling him that I was about to fly to Europe and, more critically, I lacked a US visa.
A day later I toured the city, returning to the canteen that after dark. The man from Iraq walked over to me and informed me that he had set up a meeting for me with the leader of the research team at Columbia. Because he had taken the effort, I went to the meeting – but immediately informed my prospective employer that I was without a work permit, so I was unable to accept the role.
As is common in NYC – a metropolis where everything seems achievable – she responded: “We'll handle it. How soon can you begin?” I missed my plane to London.
I was employed there for 36 months. An advantage of the role was that I was granted free tuition at Columbia, and I used the opportunity to earn a master’s of international affairs.
I never saw that student again and I can't recall his name, but his selfless gesture altered my destiny in multiple respects. I would never have had the courage or self-assurance to reach out at an prestigious college and request employment. Moreover, I had always wanted to study abroad, but could never have afforded it without that free tuition.
Critically, that job in New York resulted in a job in Zurich where I met my beautiful French husband, with whom I am raising a family of four kids. That encounter altered everything. That kind stranger changed my trajectory in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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