In the final years of the 1980s, I set out on a budget travel adventure to the European continent with a friend. Because my friend was exploring enrolling in graduate studies in the Big Apple, we had arranged a fortnight visit there on the way to London.
We reached the graduate housing, a sizeable 10-storey building on the Manhattan's Upper West Side known as International House. Setting down our luggage, we made our way to the cafeteria, where we picked up meals, took a seat, and began chatting with other diners.
Adjacent to my seat was an Iraqi man studying engineering at Columbia University. He wanted to know what I did for a living, and I explained that I had just graduated with a science degree and had been working on studies with electron microscopy.
He noted that there was an microscopy facility at the institution – right next door to the school of engineering, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He recommended that I consider applying for a position with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, explaining that I was about to fly to Europe and, more critically, I lacked a US visa.
The following day I went out exploring, returning to the canteen that after dark. The man from Iraq approached me and told me that he had arranged an interview for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Since he had gone to the trouble, I went to the meeting – but straight off explained to my interviewer that I was without a work permit, so I was unable to accept the role.
Reflecting the city's spirit – a city where anything feels possible – she responded: “We can make that happen. How soon can you begin?” I missed my plane to London.
I held that position for three years. A perk of the job was that I was granted no-cost classes at Columbia, and I used the opportunity to earn a postgrad program in international relations.
We didn't cross paths after that and I can't recall his identity, but his remarkable generosity altered my destiny in so many ways. I lacked the courage or nerve to contact anyone at an elite institution and request employment. Additionally, I had consistently hoped to take classes in another country, but could never have afforded it without that free tuition.
What's more, that job in New York paved the way for a job in Zurich where I met my beautiful French husband, with whom I now have four amazing children. This was a pivotal life event. That kind stranger changed my trajectory in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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