During the closing decade of the 80s, I set out on a budget travel adventure to Europe with a friend. Since my friend was considering enrolling in graduate studies in New York, we had booked a two-week stay there on the way to London.
We arrived at the postgrad residence, a large 10-storey building on the Upper West Side known as International House. Setting down our luggage, we made our way to the cafeteria, where we got some food, sat down, and began chatting with other diners.
Beside me was an individual of Iraqi origin enrolled in an engineering program at a prestigious New York university. He inquired what I did for a living, and I shared that I had just graduated with a scientific background and had been working on studies using an electron microscope.
He noted that there was an microscopy facility at the university – adjacent to the engineering faculty, which was how he knew about it. He suggested that I ought to seek a position with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, explaining that I was about to fly to Europe and, more critically, I didn’t have a US visa.
A day later I toured the city, returning to the canteen that night. The man from Iraq approached me and informed me that he had arranged an interview for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Given that he had taken the effort, I went to the meeting – but straight off informed my host that I was without a work permit, so I was probably wasting her time.
As is common in NYC – a city where anything feels possible – she said: “We can make that happen. When can you start?” I never got on that flight to London.
I worked there for a trio of years. An advantage of the role was that I was granted free tuition 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 name, but his remarkable generosity changed my life in multiple respects. I lacked the bravery or nerve to approach someone at an prestigious college and request employment. Moreover, I had long dreamed to take classes in another country, but lacked the financial means without that educational benefit.
What's more, that role at the university led me to a role in Europe where I encountered my beautiful French husband, with whom I currently share four wonderful sons and daughters. It was a total sliding doors moment. That benevolent individual set me on a different course in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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