In the closing decade of the 80s, I set out on a low-cost journey to Europe with a friend. Because my travel mate was considering starting a postgraduate program in New York, we had arranged a two-week stay there on the way to London.
We reached the postgrad residence, a big multi-story edifice on the Upper West Side known as International House. Once we unpacked, we went directly to the cafeteria, where we got some food, took a seat, and started talking to people eating there.
Beside me was an Iraqi man pursuing an engineering degree at a prestigious New York university. He wanted to know what I did for a living, 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 – right next door to the engineering faculty, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He proposed that I ought to seek a role with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, explaining that I was about to fly to Europe and, more critically, I did not possess a US visa.
The following day I toured the city, returning to the canteen that night. The man from Iraq came up 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 taken the effort, I showed up for the discussion – but straight off told my host that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was unable to accept the role.
In typical New York fashion – a place where opportunities abound – she said: “We'll handle it. When can you start?” I missed my plane to London.
I held that position for three years. An advantage of the role was that I got no-cost classes at Columbia, and I seized the chance to complete a master’s of international affairs.
I lost touch with him and I don’t even know his identity, but his remarkable generosity changed my life in so many ways. I lacked the courage or self-assurance to contact anyone at an elite institution and request employment. Moreover, I had long dreamed to study abroad, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that educational benefit.
What's more, that gig at Columbia paved the way for a role in Europe where I met my handsome spouse from France, with whom I am raising a family of four kids. This was a pivotal life event. That benevolent individual changed my trajectory in life, and I’m always appreciative.
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