In the final years of the 1980s, I was embarking on a budget travel adventure to Europe with a friend. Since my companion was interested in starting a postgraduate program in NYC, we had booked a 14-day stopover there on the way to London.
We arrived at the student accommodation, a big ten-floor structure on the Upper West Side called International House. Once we unpacked, we headed straight to the cafeteria, where we picked up meals, found a table, and started talking to people eating there.
Sitting next to me was an Iraqi man enrolled in an engineering program at an Ivy League institution. He wanted to know what I my profession was, and I shared that I had newly finished with a scientific background and had been conducting research with electron microscopy.
He mentioned that there was an microscopy facility at Columbia University – adjacent to the school of engineering, which was why he was aware of it. He proposed that I should apply for a role with them. I dismissed the idea, saying that I was about to fly to Europe and, even more importantly, I didn’t have a US visa.
A day later I ventured out, coming back to the dining hall that after dark. The engineering student came up to me and told me that he had organized a discussion for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Given that he had taken the effort, I attended the interview – but straight off informed my host that I didn’t have a visa, so I was unable to accept the role.
As is common in NYC – a place where opportunities abound – she declared: “We can make that happen. What's your start date?” I never got on that flight to London.
I held that position for three years. One of the benefits was that I also received no-cost classes at Columbia, and I took advantage to finish a master’s of international affairs.
I lost touch with him and I don’t even know his name, but his remarkable generosity altered my destiny in multiple respects. I would never have had the courage or self-belief to contact anyone at an elite institution and ask for a job. And, I had long dreamed to take classes in another country, but could never have afforded it without that tuition waiver.
What's more, that gig at Columbia paved the way for a position in Switzerland where I met my handsome spouse from France, with whom I currently share four amazing children. That encounter altered everything. That kind stranger changed my trajectory in life, and I’m forever grateful.
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