In the final years of the 1980s, I set out on a low-cost journey to Europe with a companion. Since my companion was considering starting a postgraduate program in the Big Apple, we had arranged a fortnight visit there en route to London.
We got to the student accommodation, a big 10-storey building on the Upper West Side known as International House. Setting down our luggage, we headed straight to the canteen, where we grabbed food, found a table, and began chatting with fellow residents.
Adjacent to my seat was an Iraqi man pursuing an engineering degree at Columbia University. He inquired what I my profession was, and I told him that I had newly finished with a scientific background and had been conducting research with electron microscopy.
He mentioned that there was an electron microscope unit at Columbia University – close to the engineering department, which was how he knew about it. He suggested that I consider applying for a position with them. I laughed it off, explaining that I was soon departing to Europe and, more critically, I did not possess a US visa.
The following day I toured the city, coming back to the dining hall that night. The man from Iraq approached me and let me know that he had arranged an interview for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Given that he had made the arrangement, I showed up for the discussion – but straight off told my interviewer that I didn’t have a visa, so I was unable to accept the role.
In typical New York fashion – a place where anything feels possible – she responded: “That can be arranged. What's your start date?” I never got on that flight to London.
I was employed there for a trio of years. A perk of the job was that I was granted free tuition at Columbia, and I used the opportunity to complete a graduate degree in global studies.
I lost touch with him and I don’t even know his identity, but his incredible act of kindness changed my life in so many ways. I would never have had the courage or self-assurance to reach out at an elite institution and seek a position. Moreover, I had long dreamed to pursue education overseas, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that educational benefit.
What's more, that role at the university resulted in a role in Europe where I got to know my handsome spouse from France, with whom I now have 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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