In the final years of the 1980s, I was embarking on a low-cost journey to the European continent with a friend. Because my travel mate was exploring starting a postgraduate program in NYC, we had arranged a two-week stay there on the way to London.
We arrived at the student accommodation, a sizeable multi-story edifice on the Manhattan's Upper West Side called International House. After dropping our bags, we went directly to the cafeteria, where we grabbed food, took a seat, and started talking to people eating there.
Adjacent to my seat was an individual of Iraqi origin studying engineering at an Ivy League institution. He asked me what I did, and I explained that I had just graduated with a scientific background and had been performing experiments involving microscopic analysis.
He noted that there was an electron microscope unit at Columbia University – close to the engineering faculty, which was how he knew about it. He proposed that I should apply for a role with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, saying that I was soon departing to Europe and, more critically, I did not possess a US visa.
The next day I went out exploring, going back to the cafeteria that evening. 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. Given that he had gone to the trouble, I went to the meeting – but immediately explained to my interviewer that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was unable to accept the role.
As is common in NYC – a metropolis where anything feels possible – she declared: “That can be arranged. How soon can you begin?” I didn't board the aircraft to London.
I was employed there for 36 months. An advantage of the role was that I got free tuition at Columbia, and I used the opportunity to finish a graduate degree in global studies.
I lost touch with him and I am unaware of his name, but his remarkable generosity altered my destiny in numerous aspects. I lacked the courage or nerve to approach someone at an prestigious college and ask for a job. Moreover, I had long dreamed to take classes in another country, but lacked the financial means without that educational benefit.
What's more, that job in New York led me to a job in Zurich where I got to know my handsome spouse from France, with whom I currently share four wonderful sons and daughters. That encounter altered everything. That kind stranger changed my trajectory in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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