In the final years of the 1980s, I set out on a backpacking trip to the European continent with a friend. Because my friend was considering starting a postgraduate program in the Big Apple, we had arranged a 14-day stopover there on the way to London.
We arrived at the graduate housing, a big 10-storey building on the Upper West Side called International House. Setting down our luggage, we went directly to the canteen, where we picked up meals, sat down, and started talking to other diners.
Adjacent to my seat was an individual of Iraqi origin enrolled in an engineering program at an Ivy League institution. He inquired what I did, and I shared that I had just graduated with a science degree and had been conducting research with electron microscopy.
He mentioned that there was an electron microscope unit at the institution – right next door to the engineering department, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He recommended that I should apply for a position with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, telling him that I was about to fly to Europe and, even more importantly, I didn’t have a US visa.
The next day I toured the city, coming back to the dining hall that after dark. The man from Iraq approached me and told me that he had organized a discussion for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Given that he had made the arrangement, I attended the interview – but straight off informed my host that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was likely not a suitable candidate.
In typical New York fashion – a place where opportunities abound – she declared: “That can be arranged. When can you start?” I never got on that flight to London.
I held that position for 36 months. An advantage of the role was that I got free tuition at Columbia, and I seized the chance to earn a postgrad program in international relations.
We didn't cross paths after that and I can't recall his identity, but his remarkable generosity altered my destiny in multiple respects. I lacked the courage or self-belief to approach someone at an Ivy League university and ask for a job. And, I had consistently hoped to pursue education overseas, but could never have afforded it without that tuition waiver.
Perhaps most importantly, that role at the university resulted in a job in Zurich where I got to know my beautiful French husband, with whom I currently share a family of four kids. This was a pivotal life event. That kind stranger set me on a different course in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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