In the final years of the 1980s, I was beginning a low-cost journey to the European continent with a friend. Because my companion was considering pursuing a master’s degree in the Big Apple, we had booked a two-week stay there before heading to London.
We got to the graduate housing, a sizeable multi-story edifice on the Manhattan's Upper West Side called International House. Setting down our luggage, we went directly to the canteen, where we picked up meals, took a seat, and engaged in conversation with people eating there.
Beside me was an individual of Iraqi origin enrolled in an engineering program at an Ivy League institution. He inquired what I my profession was, and I shared that I had just graduated with a science degree and had been conducting research involving microscopic analysis.
He noted that there was an electron microscope unit at the university – adjacent to the engineering faculty, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He recommended that I consider applying for a role with them. I laughed it off, telling him that I was soon departing to Europe and, additionally, I didn’t have a US visa.
A day later I ventured out, coming back to the dining hall that after dark. The engineering student approached me and told me that he had arranged an interview for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Since he had made the arrangement, I attended the interview – but immediately explained to my prospective employer that I was without a work permit, so I was probably wasting her time.
In typical New York fashion – a metropolis where everything seems achievable – she said: “We can make that happen. When can you start?” I didn't board the aircraft to London.
I worked there for a trio of years. One of the benefits was that I also received free tuition at Columbia, and I seized the chance to finish a postgrad program in international relations.
I never saw that student again and I am unaware of his name, but his remarkable generosity transformed my future in numerous aspects. I didn't possess the bravery or self-belief to contact anyone at an prestigious college and seek a position. Moreover, I had always wanted to take classes in another country, but lacked the financial means without that tuition waiver.
Critically, that role at the university led me to a role in Europe where I met my wonderful partner, with whom I now have 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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