In the final years of the 1980s, I was beginning a budget travel adventure to the European continent with a companion. Since my companion was exploring starting a postgraduate program in NYC, we had booked a 14-day stopover there en route to London.
We reached the graduate housing, a sizeable ten-floor structure on the Upper West Side named International House. After dropping our bags, we went directly to the dining hall, where we got some food, took a seat, and started talking to fellow residents.
Adjacent to my seat was an gentleman from Iraq enrolled in an engineering program at Columbia University. He asked me what I did, and I told him that I had recently completed my studies with a scientific background and had been conducting research involving microscopic analysis.
He mentioned that there was an electron microscope unit at the university – right next door to the school of engineering, which was how he knew about it. He suggested that I should apply for a role with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, telling him that I was about to fly to Europe and, even more importantly, I lacked a US visa.
The following day I toured the city, going back to the cafeteria that night. The engineering student approached me and informed me that he had organized a discussion for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Because he had taken the effort, I attended the interview – but straight off informed my interviewer that I was without a work permit, so I was probably wasting her time.
Reflecting the city's spirit – a city where opportunities abound – she responded: “We can make that happen. What's your start date?” I never got on that flight to London.
I was employed there for 36 months. An advantage of the role was that I was granted complimentary education at Columbia, and I seized the chance to earn a postgrad program in international relations.
We didn't cross paths after that and I am unaware of his name, but his remarkable generosity altered my destiny in so many ways. I would never have had the confidence or self-belief to approach someone at an Ivy League university and ask for a job. And, I had long dreamed to pursue education overseas, but lacked the financial means without that tuition waiver.
Perhaps most importantly, that job in New York led me to a job in Zurich where I got to know my handsome spouse from France, with whom I now have a family of four kids. This was a pivotal life event. That helpful person redirected my path in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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