During the final years of the 1980s, I was embarking on a low-cost journey to Europe with a companion. Since my friend was considering starting a postgraduate program in the Big Apple, we had planned a two-week stay there on the way to London.
We got to the postgrad residence, a big 10-storey building on the UWS called International House. Once we unpacked, we made our way to the cafeteria, where we picked up meals, found a table, and began chatting with fellow residents.
Adjacent to my seat was an gentleman from Iraq enrolled in an engineering program at Columbia University. He inquired what I did, and I told him that I had newly finished with a science degree and had been conducting research involving microscopic analysis.
He mentioned that there was an electron microscope unit at Columbia University – close to the school of engineering, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He suggested that I consider applying for a position with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, saying that I was about to fly to Europe and, even more importantly, I didn’t have a US visa.
A day later I toured the city, coming back to the dining hall that evening. The engineering student walked over to me and told me that he had arranged an interview for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Since he had taken the effort, I attended the interview – but straight off informed my interviewer that I didn’t have a visa, so I was probably wasting her time.
In typical New York fashion – a city where anything feels possible – she responded: “We can make that happen. How soon can you begin?” I never got on that flight to London.
I worked there for 36 months. One of the benefits was that I was granted complimentary education at Columbia, and I seized the chance to finish a master’s of international affairs.
We didn't cross paths after that and I can't recall his full name, but his selfless gesture altered my destiny in so many ways. I didn't possess the bravery or nerve to contact anyone at an Ivy League university and ask for a job. Moreover, I had always wanted to study abroad, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that tuition waiver.
Perhaps most importantly, that role at the university paved the way for a job in Zurich where I got to know my handsome spouse from France, with whom I am raising a family of four kids. That encounter altered everything. That kind stranger redirected my path in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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