During the final years of the 1980s, I set out on a budget travel adventure to the European continent with a friend. Because my companion was interested in starting a postgraduate program in the Big Apple, we had booked a 14-day stopover there before heading to London.
We reached the postgrad residence, a big 10-storey building on the Manhattan's Upper West Side known as International House. After dropping our bags, we headed straight to the cafeteria, where we grabbed food, took a seat, and engaged in conversation with fellow residents.
Beside me was an gentleman from Iraq pursuing an engineering degree at Columbia University. He wanted to know what I my profession was, and I told him that I had just graduated with a scientific background and had been performing experiments involving microscopic analysis.
He noted that there was an microscopy facility at the university – right next door to the engineering department, which was why he was aware of it. He proposed that I ought to seek a position with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, saying that I was heading off to Europe and, additionally, I did not possess a US visa.
The following day I went out exploring, returning to the canteen that after dark. The engineering student walked over to me and told me that he had set up a meeting for me with the leader of the research team at Columbia. Since he had made the arrangement, I went to the meeting – but right away informed my interviewer that I didn’t have a visa, so I was probably wasting her time.
Reflecting the city's spirit – a metropolis where everything seems achievable – she declared: “We can make that happen. How soon can you begin?” I didn't board the aircraft to London.
I was employed 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 earn a master’s of international affairs.
We didn't cross paths after that and I can't recall his identity, but his selfless gesture altered my destiny in so many ways. I would never have had the courage or nerve to contact anyone at an Ivy League university and request employment. Moreover, I had long dreamed to take classes in another country, but lacked the financial means without that tuition waiver.
What's more, that job in New York paved the way for a job in Zurich where I encountered my beautiful French husband, with whom I am raising four wonderful sons and daughters. That encounter altered everything. That kind stranger set me on a different course in life, and I’m always appreciative.
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