In the late 1980s, I was beginning a budget travel adventure to the European continent with a companion. Since my friend was considering starting a postgraduate program in the Big Apple, we had planned a two-week stay there en route to London.
We arrived at the graduate housing, a large 10-storey building on the Manhattan's Upper West Side named International House. Setting down our luggage, we went directly to the cafeteria, where we grabbed food, found a table, and began chatting with fellow residents.
Beside me was an Iraqi man studying engineering at a prestigious New York university. He wanted to know what I did, and I shared that I had just graduated with a degree in science and had been working on studies using an electron microscope.
He mentioned that there was an electron microscope unit at the university – adjacent to the engineering faculty, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He suggested that I consider applying for a role with them. I laughed it off, saying that I was about to fly to Europe and, even more importantly, I didn’t have a US visa.
The following day I went out exploring, returning to the canteen that after dark. The man from Iraq came up to me and let me know that he had organized a discussion for me with the leader of the research team at Columbia. Because he had gone to the trouble, I attended the interview – but right away explained to my prospective employer that I didn’t have a visa, so I was likely not a suitable candidate.
In typical New York fashion – a metropolis where anything feels possible – she declared: “We can make that happen. What's your start date?” I didn't board the aircraft to London.
I was employed there for three years. One of the benefits was that I was granted no-cost classes at Columbia, and I seized the chance to complete a graduate degree in global studies.
We didn't cross paths after that and I am unaware of his identity, but his remarkable generosity altered my destiny in so many ways. I lacked the bravery or self-belief to contact anyone at an Ivy League university and request employment. And, I had consistently hoped to pursue education overseas, but lacked the financial means without that free tuition.
Perhaps most importantly, that role at the university resulted in a role in Europe where I got to know my handsome spouse from France, with whom I am raising a family of four kids. This was a pivotal life event. That kind stranger set me on a different course in life, and I’m forever grateful.
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