In the final years of the 1980s, I was beginning a budget travel adventure to Europe with a travel partner. Because my companion was exploring starting a postgraduate program in New York, we had booked a fortnight visit there on the way to London.
We got to the student accommodation, a sizeable multi-story edifice on the Manhattan's Upper West Side named International House. Setting down our luggage, we went directly to the dining hall, where we got some food, found a table, and started talking to other diners.
Beside me was an Iraqi man studying engineering at a prestigious New York university. He asked me what I did for a living, and I explained that I had newly finished with a degree in science and had been working on studies involving microscopic analysis.
He mentioned that there was an microscopy facility at the institution – close to the engineering faculty, which was why he was aware of it. He suggested that I consider applying for a position with them. I laughed it off, telling him that I was about to fly to Europe and, more critically, I didn’t have a US visa.
The next day I went out exploring, coming back to the dining hall that night. The engineering student came up to me and informed me that he had set up a meeting for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Because he had gone to the trouble, I went to the meeting – but right away explained to my host that I was without a work permit, so I was probably wasting her time.
As is common in NYC – a city where everything seems achievable – she declared: “We'll handle it. How soon can you begin?” I didn't board the aircraft to London.
I was employed there for 36 months. A perk of the job was that I got free tuition at Columbia, and I took advantage to complete a postgrad program in international relations.
I lost touch with him and I don’t even know his name, but his selfless gesture altered my destiny in numerous aspects. I lacked the courage or self-assurance to approach someone at an Ivy League university and ask for a job. Additionally, I had consistently hoped to take classes in another country, but lacked the financial means without that educational benefit.
What's more, that job in New York resulted in a role in Europe where I got to know my handsome spouse from France, with whom I now have four wonderful sons and daughters. This was a pivotal life event. That benevolent individual set me on a different course in life, and I’m forever grateful.
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