In the final years of the 1980s, I was beginning a budget travel adventure to the European continent with a companion. Since my friend was exploring enrolling in graduate studies in NYC, we had arranged a 14-day stopover there before heading to London.
We got to the graduate housing, a sizeable ten-floor structure on the UWS known as International House. Once we unpacked, we made our way to the canteen, where we grabbed food, sat down, and engaged in conversation with people eating there.
Adjacent to my seat was an gentleman from Iraq enrolled in an engineering program at Columbia University. He asked me what I my profession was, and I told him that I had recently completed my studies with a degree in science and had been conducting research with electron microscopy.
He mentioned that there was an microscopy facility at the institution – close to the engineering faculty, which was how he knew about it. He proposed that I should apply for a job with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, saying that I was soon departing to Europe and, more critically, I did not possess a US visa.
A day later I went out exploring, coming back to the dining hall that after dark. The engineering student approached me and informed me that he had organized a discussion for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Because he had made the arrangement, I went to the meeting – but immediately explained to my host that I was without a work permit, so I was unable to accept the role.
In typical New York fashion – a metropolis where anything feels possible – she declared: “We can make that happen. What's your start date?” I never got on that flight to London.
I worked there for three years. A perk of the job was that I got free tuition at Columbia, and I seized the chance to complete a graduate degree in global studies.
I lost touch with him and I don’t even know his full name, but his incredible act of kindness transformed my future in multiple respects. I would never have had the bravery or self-belief to contact anyone at an prestigious college and request employment. Moreover, I had consistently hoped to pursue education overseas, but could never have afforded it without that educational benefit.
Critically, that job in New York resulted in a job in Zurich where I got to know my beautiful French husband, with whom I am raising four wonderful sons and daughters. That encounter altered everything. That helpful person changed my trajectory in life, and I’m always appreciative.
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