In the closing decade of the 80s, I set out on a backpacking trip to Europe with a companion. Since my travel mate was considering pursuing a master’s degree in NYC, we had planned a 14-day stopover there before heading to London.
We arrived at the graduate housing, a big 10-storey building on the Upper West Side known as International House. Once we unpacked, we went directly to the canteen, where we got some food, took a seat, and started talking to people eating there.
Beside me was an Iraqi man enrolled in an engineering program at Columbia University. He asked me what I did, and I shared that I had newly finished with a science degree and had been performing experiments involving microscopic analysis.
He mentioned that there was an electron microscope unit at Columbia University – close to the engineering department, which was why he was aware of it. He proposed that I ought to seek a role with them. I dismissed the idea, telling him that I was heading off to Europe and, more critically, I did not possess a US visa.
A day later I ventured out, going back to the cafeteria that after dark. The man from Iraq approached me and told me that he had organized a discussion for me with the leader of the research team at Columbia. Because he had taken the effort, I went to the meeting – but right away informed my host that I was without a work permit, so I was probably wasting her time.
Reflecting the city's spirit – a place where anything feels possible – she responded: “That can be arranged. When can you start?” I missed my plane to London.
I worked there for 36 months. An advantage of the role was that I also received free tuition at Columbia, and I seized the chance to complete a postgrad program in international relations.
I lost touch with him and I don’t even know his full name, but his selfless gesture changed my life in numerous aspects. I lacked the courage or self-assurance to contact anyone at an elite institution and ask for a job. Moreover, I had consistently hoped to study abroad, but lacked the financial means without that tuition waiver.
What's more, that job in New York led me to a role in Europe where I met my beautiful French husband, with whom I am raising four amazing children. That encounter altered everything. That helpful person changed my trajectory in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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