In the late 1980s, I was embarking on a low-cost journey to the European continent with a friend. Because my travel mate was interested in enrolling in graduate studies in New York, we had arranged a fortnight visit there on the way to London.
We got to the student accommodation, a sizeable 10-storey building on the Manhattan's Upper West Side called International House. Setting down our luggage, we headed straight to the cafeteria, where we picked up meals, sat down, and started talking to other diners.
Sitting next to me was an individual of Iraqi origin enrolled in an engineering program at Columbia University. He asked me what I my profession was, and I told him that I had newly finished with a degree in science and had been performing experiments involving microscopic analysis.
He mentioned that there was an microscopy facility at Columbia University – right next door to the engineering department, which was why he was aware of it. He suggested that I should apply for a job with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, saying that I was about to fly to Europe and, more critically, I didn’t have a US visa.
The following day I went out exploring, coming back to the dining hall that night. The Iraqi student approached me and let me know that he had set up a meeting for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Because he had made the arrangement, I went to the meeting – but immediately told my interviewer that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was unable to accept the role.
Reflecting the city's spirit – a place where everything seems achievable – she said: “We'll handle it. How soon can you begin?” I didn't board the aircraft to London.
I held that position for three years. An advantage of the role was that I got complimentary education at Columbia, and I seized the chance to earn a postgrad program in international relations.
I never saw that student again and I am unaware of his identity, but his remarkable generosity altered my destiny in numerous aspects. I lacked the confidence or self-assurance to contact anyone at an Ivy League university and ask for a job. Additionally, I had always wanted to pursue education overseas, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that tuition waiver.
Critically, that role at the university resulted in a role in Europe where I got to know my beautiful French husband, with whom I currently share a family of four kids. That encounter altered everything. That benevolent individual redirected my path in life, and I’m always appreciative.
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