During the late 1980s, I was beginning a backpacking trip to Europe with a friend. Because my travel mate was interested in enrolling in graduate studies in New York, we had booked a fortnight visit there on the way to London.
We reached the postgrad residence, a large 10-storey building on the UWS known as International House. Once we unpacked, we made our way to the canteen, where we grabbed food, found a table, and started talking to fellow residents.
Sitting next to me 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 scientific background and had been working on studies with electron microscopy.
He noted that there was an research lab at the university – adjacent to the engineering faculty, which was why he was aware of it. He suggested that I ought to seek a position with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, saying that I was soon departing to Europe and, additionally, I did not possess a US visa.
A day later I ventured out, returning to the canteen that evening. The man from Iraq approached me and let me know that he had arranged an interview for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Since he had gone to the trouble, I attended the interview – but straight off explained to my prospective employer that I didn’t have a visa, so I was probably wasting her time.
In typical New York fashion – a place where everything seems achievable – she responded: “We'll handle it. How soon can you begin?” I never got on that flight to London.
I held that position for three years. A perk of the job was that I was granted free tuition at Columbia, and I seized the chance to complete a graduate degree in global studies.
I lost touch with him and I can't recall his name, but his remarkable generosity altered my destiny in numerous aspects. I didn't possess the courage or self-assurance to reach out at an Ivy League university and request employment. Additionally, I had consistently hoped to study abroad, but lacked the financial means without that free tuition.
Perhaps most importantly, that gig at Columbia paved the way for a position in Switzerland where I got to know my beautiful French husband, with whom I now have a family of four kids. That encounter altered everything. That helpful person redirected my path in life, and I’m always appreciative.
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