During the final years of the 1980s, I was beginning a low-cost journey to Europe with a friend. Because my companion was considering enrolling in graduate studies in NYC, we had booked a 14-day stopover there on the way to London.
We reached the student accommodation, a sizeable 10-storey building on the UWS known as International House. After dropping our bags, we made our way to the dining hall, where we got some food, sat down, and started talking to people eating there.
Beside me was an Iraqi man pursuing an engineering degree at a prestigious New York university. He asked me what I did, and I shared that I had just graduated with a degree in science and had been working on studies involving microscopic analysis.
He pointed out that there was an research lab at the institution – right next door to the school of engineering, which was how he knew about it. He recommended that I ought to seek a position with them. I dismissed the idea, explaining that I was soon departing to Europe and, more critically, I didn’t have a US visa.
A day later I went out exploring, going back to the cafeteria that evening. The man from Iraq approached me and let me know that he had set up a meeting for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Since he had made the arrangement, I went to the meeting – but immediately explained to my interviewer that I didn’t have a visa, so I was unable to accept the role.
Reflecting the city's spirit – a place where opportunities abound – she responded: “That can be arranged. What's your start date?” I didn't board the aircraft to London.
I was employed there for three years. An advantage of the role was that I got no-cost classes at Columbia, and I used the opportunity to finish a postgrad program in international relations.
I lost touch with him and I am unaware of his full name, but his remarkable generosity transformed my future in numerous aspects. I lacked the courage or self-assurance to approach someone at an elite institution and ask for a job. Additionally, I had long dreamed to pursue education overseas, but could never have afforded it without that tuition waiver.
Perhaps most importantly, that gig at Columbia paved the way for a position in Switzerland where I met my handsome spouse from France, with whom I am raising a family of four kids. That encounter altered everything. That kind stranger changed my trajectory in life, and I’m always appreciative.
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