In the final years of the 1980s, I set out on a backpacking trip to Europe with a companion. Since my travel mate was exploring enrolling in graduate studies in the Big Apple, we had booked a fortnight visit there en route to London.
We got to the postgrad residence, a big ten-floor structure on the UWS named International House. Once we unpacked, we headed straight to the cafeteria, where we picked up meals, sat down, and began chatting with fellow residents.
Adjacent to my seat was an Iraqi man studying engineering at a prestigious New York university. He asked me what I did for a living, and I told him that I had newly finished with a science degree and had been working on studies using an electron microscope.
He pointed out that there was an research lab at Columbia University – adjacent to the engineering faculty, which was how he knew about it. He recommended that I consider applying for a job with them. I laughed it off, telling him that I was about to fly to Europe and, more critically, I did not possess a US visa.
A day later I went out exploring, returning to the canteen that night. The man from Iraq approached me and informed me that he had set up a meeting for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Given that he had taken the effort, I went to the meeting – but immediately informed my host that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was probably wasting her time.
As is common in NYC – a metropolis where everything seems achievable – she declared: “That can be arranged. What's your start date?” I didn't board the aircraft to London.
I was employed there for three years. A perk of the job was that I also received free tuition at Columbia, and I seized the chance to earn a graduate degree in global studies.
I lost touch with him and I can't recall his identity, but his selfless gesture transformed my future in so many ways. I would never have had the confidence or self-belief to reach out at an prestigious college and ask for a job. And, I had consistently hoped to study abroad, but lacked the financial means without that tuition waiver.
What's more, that role at the university paved the way for a job in Zurich where I met my beautiful French husband, with whom I now have four amazing children. That encounter altered everything. That benevolent individual redirected my path in life, and I’m always appreciative.
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