During the closing decade of the 80s, I set out on a budget travel adventure to Europe with a friend. Because my travel mate was considering starting a postgraduate program in New York, we had arranged a 14-day stopover there on the way to London.
We reached the student accommodation, a large ten-floor structure on the UWS named International House. Setting down our luggage, we headed straight to the canteen, where we grabbed food, found a table, and started talking to fellow residents.
Adjacent to my seat was an Iraqi man enrolled in an engineering program at an Ivy League institution. He asked me what I did for a living, and I shared that I had just graduated with a science degree and had been conducting research with electron microscopy.
He pointed out that there was an microscopy facility at the institution – right next door to the engineering department, which was why he was aware of it. He proposed that I consider applying for a role with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, saying that I was soon departing to Europe and, even more importantly, I didn’t have a US visa.
The next day I toured the city, coming back to the dining hall that after dark. The man from Iraq walked over to me and let me know that he had arranged an interview for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Because he had made the arrangement, I went to the meeting – 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 place where everything seems achievable – she responded: “We'll handle it. What's your start date?” I never got on that flight to London.
I worked there for 36 months. One of the benefits was that I also received complimentary education at Columbia, and I seized the chance to complete a postgrad program in international relations.
We didn't cross paths after that and I don’t even know his name, but his remarkable generosity changed my life in numerous aspects. I would never have had the courage or nerve to approach someone at an Ivy League university and ask for a job. Additionally, I had consistently hoped to take classes in another country, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that educational benefit.
Critically, that role at the university paved the way for a job in Zurich where I got to know my beautiful French husband, with whom I now have four wonderful sons and daughters. This was a pivotal life event. That kind stranger set me on a different course in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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