During the late 1980s, I set out on a backpacking trip to Europe with a companion. Since my companion was exploring enrolling in graduate studies in New York, we had arranged a two-week stay there before heading to London.
We arrived at the postgrad residence, a big multi-story edifice on the Manhattan's Upper West Side known as International House. Setting down our luggage, we made our way to the dining hall, where we grabbed food, sat down, and began chatting with people eating there.
Adjacent to my seat was an Iraqi man enrolled in an engineering program at an Ivy League institution. He inquired what I did, and I shared that I had just graduated with a degree in science and had been working on studies using an electron microscope.
He pointed out that there was an research lab at the university – right next door to the engineering department, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He recommended that I ought to seek a role with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, saying that I was heading off to Europe and, more critically, I lacked a US visa.
The following day I ventured out, going back to the cafeteria that after dark. The Iraqi student walked over to me and told me that he had set up a meeting for me with the leader of the research team at Columbia. Given that he had gone to the trouble, I went to the meeting – but straight off told my interviewer that I didn’t have a visa, so I was probably wasting her time.
In typical New York fashion – a metropolis where opportunities abound – she responded: “We'll handle it. How soon can you begin?” I missed my plane to London.
I was employed there for three years. A perk of the job was that I was granted complimentary education at Columbia, and I took advantage to finish a postgrad program in international relations.
I lost touch with him and I can't recall his name, but his remarkable generosity changed my life in so many ways. I would never have had the courage or self-belief to reach out at an prestigious college and request employment. And, I had always wanted to take classes in another country, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that educational benefit.
What's more, that role at the university led me to a job in Zurich where I encountered my handsome spouse from France, with whom I now have a family of four kids. It was a total sliding doors moment. That kind stranger redirected my path in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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