In the final years of the 1980s, I was beginning a budget travel adventure to the European continent with a travel partner. Because my friend was interested in enrolling in graduate studies in New York, we had booked a two-week stay there en route to London.
We got to the student accommodation, a sizeable ten-floor structure on the Manhattan's Upper West Side known as International House. Once we unpacked, we went directly to the dining hall, where we picked up meals, sat down, and began chatting with people eating there.
Beside me was an Iraqi man studying engineering at Columbia University. He inquired what I my profession was, and I told him that I had recently completed my studies with a science degree and had been working on studies involving microscopic analysis.
He pointed out that there was an research lab at Columbia University – adjacent to the engineering faculty, which was why he was aware of it. He proposed that I consider applying for a role with them. I dismissed the idea, telling him that I was soon departing to Europe and, more critically, I lacked a US visa.
The next day I toured the city, going back to the cafeteria that after dark. The man from Iraq came up to me and told me that he had organized a discussion for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Given that he had taken the effort, I went to the meeting – but straight off told my interviewer that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was unable to accept the role.
Reflecting the city's spirit – a place where everything seems achievable – 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 a trio of years. An advantage of the role was that I was granted complimentary education at Columbia, and I used the opportunity to earn a master’s of international affairs.
I never saw that student again and I am unaware of his full name, but his incredible act of kindness altered my destiny in so many ways. I didn't possess the confidence or nerve to reach out at an prestigious college and ask for a job. Additionally, I had consistently hoped to take classes in another country, but could never have afforded it without that free tuition.
Critically, that gig at Columbia led me to a job in Zurich where I met my beautiful French husband, with whom I now have a family of four kids. This was a pivotal life event. That benevolent individual set me on a different course in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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