During the closing decade of the 80s, I was beginning a backpacking trip to the European continent with a companion. Because my friend was exploring starting a postgraduate program in NYC, we had booked a fortnight visit there en route to London.
We arrived at the postgrad residence, a big ten-floor structure on the Manhattan's Upper West Side named International House. Setting down our luggage, we went directly to the canteen, where we picked up meals, found a table, and started talking to fellow residents.
Adjacent to my seat was an gentleman from Iraq studying engineering at a prestigious New York university. He wanted to know what I did for a living, and I told him that I had newly finished with a degree in science and had been working on studies with electron microscopy.
He pointed out that there was an research lab at the university – right next door to the engineering faculty, which was how he knew about it. He suggested that I ought to seek a role with them. I laughed it off, explaining that I was about to fly to Europe and, more critically, I lacked a US visa.
The next day I toured the city, returning to the canteen that evening. The man from Iraq came up to me and informed me that he had arranged an interview for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Since he had taken the effort, I went to the meeting – but immediately told my interviewer that I didn’t have a visa, so I was probably wasting her time.
Reflecting the city's spirit – a metropolis where anything feels possible – she responded: “We can make that happen. How soon can you begin?” I never got on that flight to London.
I worked there for 36 months. An advantage of the role was that I was granted complimentary education at Columbia, and I seized the chance to complete a postgrad program in international relations.
We didn't cross paths after that and I don’t even know his full name, but his remarkable generosity changed my life in numerous aspects. I didn't possess the confidence or self-belief to approach someone at an elite institution and ask for a job. Moreover, I had always wanted to take classes in another country, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that tuition waiver.
Critically, that role at the university led me to a job in Zurich where I got to know my wonderful partner, with whom I now have four amazing children. That encounter altered everything. That benevolent individual redirected my path in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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