In the final years of the 1980s, I set out on a budget travel adventure to the European continent with a companion. Because my companion was considering starting a postgraduate program in New York, we had booked a two-week stay there before heading to London.
We reached the graduate housing, a large 10-storey building on the UWS called International House. Setting down our luggage, we headed straight to the cafeteria, where we picked up meals, sat down, and began chatting with people eating there.
Adjacent to my seat was an Iraqi man enrolled in an engineering program at an Ivy League institution. He wanted to know what I my profession was, and I explained that I had newly finished with a science degree and had been working on studies involving microscopic analysis.
He noted that there was an electron microscope unit at Columbia University – close to the engineering faculty, which was why he was aware of it. He proposed that I ought to seek a role with them. I dismissed the idea, saying that I was about to fly to Europe and, more critically, I lacked a US visa.
The following day I went out exploring, returning to the canteen that night. The man from Iraq came up to me and told me that he had set up a meeting for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Because he had taken the effort, I went to the meeting – but right away informed my host that I was without a work permit, so I was probably wasting her time.
As is common in NYC – a place where everything seems achievable – she declared: “We'll handle it. How soon can you begin?” I missed my plane to London.
I worked there for three years. An advantage of the role was that I got free tuition at Columbia, and I seized the chance to complete a postgrad program in international relations.
I never saw that student again and I can't recall his full name, but his incredible act of kindness changed my life in so many ways. I didn't possess the bravery or self-assurance to contact anyone at an elite institution and ask for a job. Moreover, I had long dreamed to take classes in another country, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that educational benefit.
Perhaps most importantly, that gig at Columbia led me to a position in Switzerland where I encountered my beautiful French husband, with whom I now have four amazing children. It was a total sliding doors moment. That helpful person set me on a different course in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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