During the late 1980s, I was embarking on a low-cost journey to Europe with a friend. Because my companion was considering pursuing a master’s degree in New York, we had planned a 14-day stopover there on the way to London.
We arrived at the student accommodation, a big ten-floor structure on the Manhattan's Upper West Side known as International House. Setting down our luggage, we headed straight to the dining hall, where we picked up meals, found a table, and began chatting with other diners.
Beside me was an Iraqi man enrolled in an engineering program at Columbia University. He asked me what I did, and I shared that I had just graduated with a degree in science and had been performing experiments using an electron microscope.
He noted that there was an research lab at the university – adjacent to the engineering faculty, which was why he was aware of it. He suggested that I ought to seek a position with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, telling him that I was about to fly to Europe and, more critically, I lacked a US visa.
The next day I went out exploring, going back to the cafeteria that night. The engineering student came up to me and told me that he had set up a meeting for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Given that he had taken the effort, I went to the meeting – but immediately informed my interviewer that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was probably wasting her time.
In typical New York fashion – a metropolis where opportunities abound – she responded: “We'll handle it. How soon can you begin?” I didn't board the aircraft to London.
I worked there for 36 months. One of the benefits was that I got complimentary education at Columbia, and I took advantage to finish a master’s of international affairs.
I lost touch with him and I don’t even know his full name, but his incredible act of kindness altered my destiny in multiple respects. I lacked the courage or self-belief to approach someone at an prestigious college and ask for a job. And, I had long dreamed to take classes in another country, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that educational benefit.
Critically, that job in New York resulted in a position in Switzerland where I encountered my handsome spouse from France, with whom I am raising four amazing children. This was a pivotal life event. That benevolent individual set me on a different course in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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