In the closing decade of the 80s, I set out on a backpacking trip to Europe with a companion. Because my companion was considering starting a postgraduate program in NYC, we had planned a fortnight visit there before heading to London.
We reached the graduate housing, a sizeable 10-storey building on the Upper West Side known as International House. After dropping our bags, we headed straight to the canteen, where we got some food, took a seat, and started talking to fellow residents.
Beside me was an Iraqi man pursuing an engineering degree at an Ivy League institution. He asked me what I did, and I told him that I had just graduated with a scientific background and had been performing experiments with electron microscopy.
He mentioned that there was an research lab at the university – right next door to the engineering department, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He recommended that I ought to seek a position with them. I dismissed the idea, explaining that I was heading off to Europe and, more critically, I lacked a US visa.
A day later I ventured out, coming back to the dining hall that evening. The Iraqi student walked over to me and let me know that he had arranged an interview for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Given that he had taken the effort, I attended the interview – but straight off explained to my host that I was without a work permit, so I was probably wasting her time.
In typical New York fashion – a metropolis where opportunities abound – she said: “We'll handle it. How soon can you begin?” I missed my plane to London.
I worked there for a trio of years. A perk of the job was that I got no-cost classes at Columbia, and I seized the chance to earn a graduate degree in global studies.
We didn't cross paths after that and I don’t even know his name, but his incredible act of kindness transformed my future in so many ways. I would never have had the courage or nerve to approach someone at an elite institution and ask for a job. And, I had consistently hoped to pursue education overseas, but lacked the financial means without that educational benefit.
What's more, that job in New York led me to a job in Zurich where I encountered my handsome spouse from France, with whom I currently share four amazing children. That encounter altered everything. That benevolent individual set me on a different course in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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