During the final years of the 1980s, I set out on a budget travel adventure to the European continent with a friend. Because my travel mate was interested in pursuing a master’s degree in the Big Apple, we had booked a 14-day stopover there en route to London.
We got to the graduate housing, a large multi-story edifice on the UWS known as International House. After dropping our bags, we made our way to the cafeteria, where we picked up meals, took a seat, and started talking to people eating there.
Beside me was an Iraqi man studying engineering at Columbia University. He inquired what I did for a living, and I told him that I had recently completed my studies with a degree in science and had been conducting research with electron microscopy.
He pointed out that there was an research lab at the institution – close to the engineering faculty, which was how he knew about it. He suggested that I consider applying for a role with them. I dismissed the idea, saying that I was about to fly to Europe and, more critically, I didn’t have a US visa.
The next day I went out exploring, going back to the cafeteria that night. The man from Iraq came up to me and let me know that he had organized a discussion for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Given that he had gone to the trouble, I showed up for the discussion – but straight off informed my interviewer that I was without a work permit, so I was likely not a suitable candidate.
As is common in NYC – a place where everything seems achievable – she responded: “That can be arranged. When can you start?” I missed my plane to London.
I was employed there for a trio of years. A perk of the job was that I got complimentary education at Columbia, and I seized the chance to complete a graduate degree in global studies.
I lost touch with him and I can't recall his identity, but his remarkable generosity transformed my future in multiple respects. I didn't possess the confidence or nerve to contact anyone at an prestigious college and ask for a job. Moreover, I had long dreamed to pursue education overseas, but could never have afforded it without that educational benefit.
Perhaps most importantly, that job in New York resulted in a role in Europe where I met my beautiful French husband, with whom I am raising a family of four kids. That encounter altered everything. That benevolent individual changed my trajectory in life, and I’m forever grateful.
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