In the closing decade of the 80s, I was embarking on a budget travel adventure to the European continent with a travel partner. Because my travel mate was interested in starting a postgraduate program in NYC, we had arranged a two-week stay there before heading to London.
We got to the graduate housing, a sizeable 10-storey building on the Manhattan's Upper West Side known as International House. Setting down our luggage, we made our way to the cafeteria, where we got some food, took a seat, and started talking to people eating there.
Adjacent to my seat was an individual of Iraqi origin studying engineering at a prestigious New York university. He asked me what I did, and I told him that I had recently completed my studies with a science degree and had been performing experiments with electron microscopy.
He pointed out that there was an microscopy facility at the institution – adjacent to the school of engineering, which was how he knew about it. He suggested that I ought to seek a role with them. I laughed it off, telling him that I was heading off to Europe and, additionally, I did not possess a US visa.
The next day I ventured out, returning to the canteen that night. The Iraqi student came up to me and told me 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 went to the meeting – but immediately explained to my prospective employer that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was probably wasting her time.
In typical New York fashion – a metropolis where anything feels possible – she responded: “We'll handle it. When can you start?” I never got on that flight to London.
I was employed there for 36 months. A perk of the job was that I got free tuition at Columbia, and I seized the chance to complete a graduate degree in global studies.
I never saw that student again and I am unaware of his identity, but his selfless gesture altered my destiny in so many ways. I would never have had the bravery or self-belief to contact anyone at an prestigious college and seek a position. Moreover, I had always wanted to study abroad, but could never have afforded it without that tuition waiver.
What's more, that role at the university paved the way for a job in Zurich where I encountered my beautiful French husband, with whom I am raising a family of four kids. This was a pivotal life event. That benevolent individual changed my trajectory in life, and I’m forever grateful.
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