During the final years of the 1980s, I was embarking on a budget travel adventure to Europe with a travel partner. Because my companion was considering pursuing a master’s degree in New York, we had arranged a two-week stay there on the way to London.
We got to the postgrad residence, a big multi-story edifice on the UWS known as International House. Once we unpacked, we went directly to the cafeteria, where we got some food, sat down, and began chatting with people eating there.
Beside me was an gentleman from Iraq pursuing an engineering degree at a prestigious New York university. He wanted to know what I did for a living, and I shared that I had just graduated with a scientific background and had been working on studies involving microscopic analysis.
He mentioned that there was an research lab at Columbia University – close to the engineering department, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He suggested that I should apply for a position with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, saying that I was heading off to Europe and, even more importantly, I did not possess a US visa.
A day later I went out exploring, coming back to the dining hall that evening. The engineering student walked over to me and told me that he had set up a meeting for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Given that he had made the arrangement, I went to the meeting – but straight off informed my prospective employer that I was without a work permit, so I was likely not a suitable candidate.
In typical New York fashion – a place where anything feels possible – she declared: “That can be arranged. What's your start date?” I didn't board the aircraft to London.
I worked there for three years. An advantage of the role was that I got free tuition at Columbia, and I seized the chance to earn a postgrad program in international relations.
We didn't cross paths after that and I can't recall his name, but his remarkable generosity transformed my future in so many ways. I didn't possess the courage or self-belief to reach out at an elite institution and request employment. And, I had long dreamed to take classes in another country, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that educational benefit.
Perhaps most importantly, that role at the university resulted in a job in Zurich where I got to know my beautiful French husband, with whom I now have a family of four kids. This was a pivotal life event. That kind stranger redirected my path in life, and I’m always appreciative.
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