During the late 1980s, I set out on a backpacking trip to the European continent with a companion. Since my friend was considering enrolling in graduate studies in New York, we had booked a fortnight visit there on the way to London.
We reached the postgrad residence, a sizeable 10-storey building on the Manhattan's Upper West Side known as International House. Once we unpacked, we went directly to the cafeteria, where we got some food, found a table, and started talking to people eating there.
Adjacent to my seat was an gentleman from Iraq enrolled in an engineering program at an Ivy League institution. He wanted to know what I did for a living, and I shared that I had just graduated with a scientific background and had been conducting research with electron microscopy.
He pointed out that there was an research lab at Columbia University – right next door to the engineering faculty, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He suggested that I should apply for a job with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, telling him that I was heading off to Europe and, additionally, I lacked a US visa.
A day later I toured the city, returning to the canteen that evening. The engineering student approached me and let me know that he had organized a discussion for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Because he had taken the effort, I went to the meeting – but right away told my host that I didn’t have a visa, so I was probably wasting her time.
As is common in NYC – a place where opportunities abound – she responded: “We'll handle it. How soon can you begin?” I never got on that flight to London.
I was employed there for a trio of years. One of the benefits was that I also received complimentary education at Columbia, and I used the opportunity to complete a postgrad program in international relations.
I lost touch with him and I don’t even know his full name, but his selfless gesture altered my destiny in multiple respects. I would never have had the courage or self-assurance to reach out at an elite institution and ask for a job. Moreover, I had consistently hoped to pursue education overseas, but could never have afforded it without that educational benefit.
What's more, that role at the university led me to a role in Europe where I got to know my beautiful French husband, with whom I currently share a family of four kids. This was a pivotal life event. That kind stranger set me on a different course in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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