During the final years of the 1980s, I was beginning a low-cost journey to the European continent with a companion. Since my travel mate was considering starting a postgraduate program in the Big Apple, we had planned a two-week stay there en route to London.
We arrived at the student accommodation, a sizeable 10-storey building on the UWS called International House. Once we unpacked, we headed straight to the canteen, where we got some food, sat down, and started talking to people eating there.
Beside me was an Iraqi man studying engineering at an Ivy League institution. He asked me what I did, 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 microscopy facility at the institution – adjacent to the school of engineering, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He recommended that I ought to seek a job with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, saying that I was heading off to Europe and, more critically, I did not possess a US visa.
The next day I went out exploring, returning to the canteen that evening. The man from Iraq approached me and told me that he had organized a discussion for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Since he had gone to the trouble, I showed up for the discussion – but straight off explained to my interviewer that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was likely not a suitable candidate.
In typical New York fashion – a place where anything feels possible – she declared: “That can be arranged. How soon can you begin?” I missed my plane to London.
I was employed there for three years. One of the benefits was that I also received free tuition at Columbia, and I seized the chance to earn a postgrad program in international relations.
I lost touch with him and I can't recall his name, but his remarkable generosity altered my destiny in so many ways. I didn't possess the bravery or nerve to reach out at an prestigious college and ask for a job. Additionally, I had always wanted to pursue education overseas, but lacked the financial means without that educational benefit.
What's more, that role at the university resulted in a role in Europe where I got to know my beautiful French husband, with whom I now have a family of four kids. This was a pivotal life event. That benevolent individual set me on a different course in life, and I’m forever grateful.
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