In the late 1980s, I set out on a backpacking trip to Europe with a travel partner. Because my travel mate was exploring pursuing a master’s degree in New York, we had arranged a 14-day stopover there before heading to London.
We arrived at the graduate housing, a large ten-floor structure on the UWS known as International House. After dropping our bags, we headed straight to the canteen, where we grabbed food, took a seat, and engaged in conversation with people eating there.
Adjacent to my seat was an Iraqi man enrolled in an engineering program at Columbia University. He inquired what I did for a living, and I told him that I had newly finished with a scientific background and had been working on studies using an electron microscope.
He mentioned that there was an microscopy facility at the institution – adjacent to the school of engineering, which was how he knew about it. He recommended that I ought to seek a role with them. I laughed it off, saying that I was soon departing to Europe and, even more importantly, I didn’t have a US visa.
The following day I toured the city, returning to the canteen that night. The engineering student came up to 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 attended the interview – but right away informed my interviewer that I was without a work permit, so I was unable to accept the role.
In typical New York fashion – a city where opportunities abound – she declared: “We'll handle it. When can you start?” I never got on that flight to London.
I held that position for a trio of years. A perk of the job was that I also received free tuition at Columbia, and I took advantage to finish a master’s of international affairs.
I never saw that student again and I am unaware of his identity, but his remarkable generosity changed my life in numerous aspects. I didn't possess the courage or self-assurance to reach out at an prestigious college and ask for a job. Moreover, I had long dreamed to study abroad, but lacked the financial means without that educational benefit.
Critically, that job in New York led me to a job in Zurich where I encountered my beautiful French husband, with whom I currently share four wonderful sons and daughters. That encounter altered everything. That benevolent individual changed my trajectory in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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