During the late 1980s, I was beginning a budget travel adventure to the European continent with a travel partner. Because my companion was exploring starting a postgraduate program in NYC, we had booked a fortnight visit there before heading to London.
We got to the student accommodation, a big multi-story edifice on the Upper West Side named International House. After dropping our bags, we made our way to the canteen, where we got some food, took a seat, and engaged in conversation with fellow residents.
Sitting next to me was an Iraqi man enrolled in an engineering program at a prestigious New York university. He inquired what I did, and I told him that I had newly finished with a scientific background and had been conducting research with electron microscopy.
He pointed out that there was an electron microscope unit at the institution – close to the school of engineering, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He suggested that I should apply for a role with them. I dismissed the idea, telling him that I was soon departing to Europe and, even more importantly, I lacked a US visa.
A day later I toured the city, coming back to the dining hall that after dark. The engineering student approached me and informed 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 went to the meeting – but straight off informed my host that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was unable to accept the role.
Reflecting the city's spirit – a city where anything feels possible – she said: “That can be arranged. How soon can you begin?” I didn't board the aircraft to London.
I was employed there for a trio of years. A perk of the job was that I got no-cost classes at Columbia, and I seized the chance to complete a graduate degree in global studies.
I never saw that student again and I can't recall his full name, but his remarkable generosity changed my life in numerous aspects. I lacked the courage or self-assurance to contact anyone at an prestigious college and request employment. Additionally, I had consistently hoped to take classes in another country, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that free tuition.
Perhaps most importantly, that role at the university resulted in a role in Europe where I met my wonderful partner, with whom I currently share a family of four kids. That encounter altered everything. That benevolent individual redirected my path in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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