During the final years of the 1980s, I set out on a budget travel adventure to Europe with a travel partner. Since my travel mate was interested in starting a postgraduate program in the Big Apple, we had booked a two-week stay there en route to London.
We got to the graduate housing, a big 10-storey building on the Manhattan's Upper West Side called International House. Once we unpacked, we made our way to the canteen, where we grabbed food, sat down, and started talking to fellow residents.
Beside me was an gentleman from Iraq enrolled in an engineering program 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 with electron microscopy.
He noted that there was an research lab at the institution – adjacent to the school of engineering, which was how he knew about it. He proposed that I ought to seek a position with them. I laughed it off, explaining that I was about to fly to Europe and, more critically, I didn’t have a US visa.
The following day I went out exploring, coming back to the dining hall that after dark. The engineering student approached me and let me know that he had arranged an interview for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Given that he had made the arrangement, I attended the interview – but straight off told my prospective employer that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was probably wasting her time.
In typical New York fashion – a place where opportunities abound – she said: “We can make that happen. When can you start?” I never got on that flight to London.
I held that position for 36 months. An advantage of the role was that I got no-cost classes at Columbia, and I used the opportunity to earn a master’s of international affairs.
I lost touch with him and I don’t even know his name, but his incredible act of kindness altered my destiny in so many ways. I didn't possess the courage or self-belief to approach someone at an prestigious college and ask for a job. Additionally, I had always wanted to take classes in another country, but could never have afforded 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 am raising four amazing children. This was a pivotal life event. That benevolent individual changed my trajectory in life, and I’m always appreciative.
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