During the late 1980s, I was beginning a low-cost journey to the European continent with a travel partner. Since my travel mate was exploring pursuing a master’s degree in New York, we had planned a 14-day stopover there on the way to London.
We got to the student accommodation, a large ten-floor structure on the Upper West Side known as International House. Once we unpacked, we headed straight to the cafeteria, where we picked up meals, sat down, and began chatting with people eating there.
Adjacent to my seat was an Iraqi man pursuing an engineering degree at an Ivy League institution. 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 involving microscopic analysis.
He mentioned that there was an microscopy facility at the institution – right next door to the engineering faculty, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He suggested that I ought to seek a position with them. I dismissed the idea, saying that I was about to fly to Europe and, more critically, I did not possess a US visa.
The next day I ventured out, going back to the cafeteria that evening. The engineering student walked over to me and told me that he had organized a discussion for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Given that he had gone to the trouble, I attended the interview – but straight off informed my prospective employer that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was unable to accept the role.
In typical New York fashion – a metropolis where opportunities abound – she declared: “We'll handle it. How soon can you begin?” I missed my plane to London.
I worked there for 36 months. An advantage of the role was that I got free tuition at Columbia, and I took advantage to earn a master’s of international affairs.
I lost touch with him and I am unaware of his full name, but his incredible act of kindness changed my life in so many ways. I would never have had the confidence or self-assurance to approach someone at an prestigious college and seek a position. Moreover, I had consistently hoped to take classes in another country, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that tuition waiver.
Critically, that job in New York paved the way for a role in Europe where I got to know my handsome spouse from France, with whom I now have a family of four kids. That encounter altered everything. That benevolent individual redirected my path in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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