During the closing decade of the 80s, I set out on a low-cost journey to the European continent with a companion. Because my friend was considering pursuing a master’s degree in NYC, we had planned a fortnight visit there before heading to London.
We arrived at the graduate housing, a big ten-floor structure on the Manhattan's Upper West Side called International House. Setting down our luggage, we headed straight to the canteen, where we picked up meals, sat down, and started talking to other diners.
Adjacent to my seat was an individual of Iraqi origin studying engineering at Columbia University. He wanted to know what I did for a living, 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 research lab at Columbia University – close to the engineering department, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He recommended that I ought to seek a position with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, telling him that I was about to fly to Europe and, more critically, I lacked a US visa.
A day later I toured the city, going back to the cafeteria that evening. The engineering student came up to me and told me that he had set up a meeting for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Given that he had taken the effort, I went to the meeting – but straight off informed my host that I didn’t have a visa, so I was likely not a suitable candidate.
As is common in NYC – a place where anything feels possible – she said: “We can make that happen. What's your start date?” I didn't board the aircraft to London.
I held that position for 36 months. A perk of the job was that I was granted complimentary education at Columbia, and I used the opportunity to finish a postgrad program in international relations.
I lost touch with him and I don’t even know his name, but his remarkable generosity transformed my future in multiple respects. I lacked the bravery or nerve to contact anyone at an Ivy League university and seek a position. And, I had always wanted to pursue education overseas, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that educational benefit.
Critically, that role at the university resulted in a position in Switzerland where I encountered my beautiful French husband, with whom I currently share a family of four kids. It was a total sliding doors moment. That benevolent individual changed my trajectory in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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