During the late 1980s, I was beginning a backpacking trip to the European continent with a companion. Because my companion was considering starting a postgraduate program in the Big Apple, we had booked a fortnight visit there en route to London.
We got to the student accommodation, a sizeable 10-storey building on the Upper West Side named International House. Setting down our luggage, we went directly to the cafeteria, where we grabbed food, took a seat, and engaged in conversation with people eating there.
Sitting next to me was an gentleman from Iraq pursuing an engineering degree at an Ivy League institution. He inquired what I did, and I explained that I had recently completed my studies with a scientific background and had been working on studies involving microscopic analysis.
He mentioned that there was an microscopy facility at Columbia University – adjacent to the school of engineering, which was how he knew about it. He recommended that I consider applying for a role with them. I dismissed the idea, telling him that I was heading off to Europe and, more critically, I did not possess a US visa.
The following day I ventured out, coming back to the dining hall that night. The man from Iraq approached me and informed me that he had arranged an interview for me with the leader of the research team at Columbia. Given that he had gone to the trouble, I attended the interview – but straight off informed my prospective employer that I didn’t have a visa, so I was probably wasting her time.
In typical New York fashion – a metropolis where anything feels possible – she declared: “That can be arranged. When can you start?” I never got on that flight to London.
I worked there for a trio of years. A perk of the job was that I was granted complimentary education at Columbia, and I seized the chance to earn a postgrad program in international relations.
I lost touch with him and I am unaware of his identity, but his incredible act of kindness transformed my future in numerous aspects. I would never have had the bravery or self-belief to approach someone at an prestigious college and ask for a job. Moreover, I had always wanted to study abroad, but could never have afforded it without that educational benefit.
Perhaps most importantly, that gig at Columbia paved the way for a job in Zurich where I got to know my beautiful French husband, with whom I now have a family of four kids. That encounter altered everything. That kind stranger set me on a different course in life, and I’m forever grateful.
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