In the late 1980s, I set out on a backpacking trip to Europe with a companion. Because my companion was interested in starting a postgraduate program in the Big Apple, we had planned a 14-day stopover there on the way to London.
We arrived at the graduate housing, a big multi-story edifice on the Upper West Side called International House. Setting down our luggage, we made our way to the canteen, where we picked up meals, sat down, and engaged in conversation with fellow residents.
Sitting next to me was an Iraqi man enrolled in an engineering program at a prestigious New York university. He wanted to know what I did, and I told him that I had newly finished with a degree in science and had been performing experiments with electron microscopy.
He noted that there was an research lab at the institution – adjacent to the engineering department, which was how he knew about it. He recommended that I ought to seek a job with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, explaining that I was about to fly to Europe and, additionally, I did not possess a US visa.
The next day I ventured out, going back to the cafeteria that after dark. The engineering student came up to me and told me that he had arranged an interview for me with the leader of the research team at Columbia. Since 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 likely not a suitable candidate.
In typical New York fashion – a place where opportunities abound – she declared: “We'll handle it. How soon can you begin?” I never got on that flight to London.
I worked there for 36 months. A perk of the job was that I also received no-cost classes at Columbia, and I used the opportunity to earn a graduate degree in global studies.
I lost touch with him and I don’t even know his full name, but his selfless gesture changed my life in so many ways. I would never have had the bravery or self-belief to contact anyone at an Ivy League university and seek a position. Moreover, I had always wanted to pursue education overseas, but lacked the financial means without that tuition waiver.
Critically, that job in New York resulted in a position in Switzerland where I encountered my beautiful French husband, with whom I am raising a family of four kids. That encounter altered everything. That benevolent individual redirected my path in life, and I’m forever grateful.
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