In the final years of the 1980s, I was beginning a budget travel adventure to the European continent with a companion. Since my travel mate was exploring pursuing a master’s degree in New York, we had booked a 14-day stopover there before heading to London.
We got to the postgrad residence, a big ten-floor structure on the Manhattan's Upper West Side named International House. After dropping our bags, we went directly to the dining hall, where we got some food, found a table, and started talking to people eating there.
Beside me was an individual of Iraqi origin studying engineering at an Ivy League institution. He asked me what I my profession was, and I told him that I had just graduated with a scientific background and had been working on studies with electron microscopy.
He noted that there was an research lab at the university – adjacent to the school of engineering, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He recommended that I should apply for a job with them. I laughed it off, explaining that I was about to fly to Europe and, more critically, I lacked a US visa.
The following day I ventured out, coming back to the dining hall that evening. The man from Iraq approached me and let me know that he had organized a discussion for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Because he had gone to the trouble, I went to the meeting – but straight off explained to my host that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was probably wasting her time.
As is common in NYC – a city where opportunities abound – she said: “We can make that happen. How soon can you begin?” I missed my plane to London.
I was employed there for 36 months. A perk of the job was that I got complimentary education at Columbia, and I seized the chance to earn a master’s of international affairs.
I lost touch with him and I don’t even know his identity, but his incredible act of kindness changed my life in multiple respects. I lacked the courage or self-belief to reach out at an elite institution and request employment. And, I had consistently hoped to study abroad, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that tuition waiver.
Critically, that role at the university paved the way for a role in Europe where I got to know my beautiful French husband, with whom I am raising four amazing children. That encounter altered everything. That benevolent individual redirected my path in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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