During the late 1980s, I was embarking on a backpacking trip to the European continent with a companion. Since my friend was considering pursuing a master’s degree in NYC, we had arranged a two-week stay there on the way to London.
We reached the graduate housing, a big ten-floor structure on the Upper West Side named International House. After dropping our bags, we headed straight to the cafeteria, where we grabbed food, sat down, and engaged in conversation with fellow residents.
Beside me was an individual of Iraqi origin enrolled in an engineering program at a prestigious New York university. He asked me what I did, and I explained that I had just graduated with a scientific background and had been conducting research with electron microscopy.
He noted that there was an microscopy facility at the university – right next door to the engineering department, which was why he was aware of it. He suggested that I ought to seek a job with them. I dismissed the idea, telling him that I was about to fly to Europe and, more critically, I lacked a US visa.
The next day I toured the city, returning to the canteen that after dark. The Iraqi student came up to me and told me that he had arranged an interview for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Because he had gone to the trouble, I attended the interview – but straight off told my interviewer that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was unable to accept the role.
As is common in NYC – a place where everything seems achievable – she declared: “We can make that happen. When can you start?” I never got on that flight to London.
I worked there for 36 months. A perk of the job was that I was granted no-cost classes at Columbia, and I seized the chance to earn a postgrad program in international relations.
We didn't cross paths after that and I don’t even know his identity, but his selfless gesture changed my life in multiple respects. I lacked the bravery or nerve to approach someone at an Ivy League university and ask for a job. Additionally, I had long dreamed to pursue education overseas, but lacked the financial means without that free tuition.
Critically, that role at the university led me to a role in Europe where I encountered my wonderful partner, with whom I now have a family of four kids. That encounter altered everything. That helpful person set me on a different course in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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