During the final years of the 1980s, I was embarking on a backpacking trip to the European continent with a friend. Since my companion was considering pursuing a master’s degree in New York, we had booked a two-week stay there on the way to London.
We reached the graduate housing, a big multi-story edifice on the Manhattan's Upper West Side named International House. Once we unpacked, we headed straight to the canteen, where we grabbed food, found a table, and began chatting with fellow residents.
Adjacent to my seat was an gentleman from Iraq studying engineering at a prestigious New York university. He asked me what I did, and I told him that I had newly finished with a degree in science and had been working on studies using an electron microscope.
He noted that there was an microscopy facility at the institution – close to the engineering faculty, which was how he knew about it. He proposed that I should apply for a role with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, saying that I was heading off to Europe and, even more importantly, I lacked a US visa.
The next day I toured the city, returning to the canteen that after dark. The man from Iraq approached me and told me that he had set up a meeting for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Because he had taken the effort, I went to the meeting – but straight off informed my prospective employer that I didn’t have a visa, so I was likely not a suitable candidate.
In typical New York fashion – a city where anything feels possible – she said: “We'll handle it. What's your start date?” I missed my plane to London.
I was employed there for a trio of years. An advantage of the role was that I was granted no-cost classes at Columbia, and I seized the chance to complete a postgrad program in international relations.
I lost touch with him and I can't recall his name, but his selfless gesture changed my life in numerous aspects. I would never have had the confidence or nerve to approach someone at an prestigious college and ask for a job. Additionally, I had long dreamed to pursue education overseas, but could never have afforded it without that educational benefit.
What's more, that gig at Columbia resulted in a position in Switzerland where I encountered my wonderful partner, with whom I am raising a family of four kids. That encounter altered everything. That benevolent individual changed my trajectory in life, and I’m forever grateful.
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