In the final years of the 1980s, I was embarking on a low-cost journey to the European continent with a travel partner. Since my companion was considering starting a postgraduate program in New York, we had arranged a 14-day stopover there en route to London.
We got to the graduate housing, a big 10-storey building on the Manhattan's Upper West Side named International House. After dropping our bags, we headed straight to the canteen, where we picked up meals, found a table, and began chatting with other diners.
Sitting next to me was an gentleman from Iraq enrolled in an engineering program at a prestigious New York university. He asked me what I my profession was, and I explained that I had recently completed my studies with a science degree and had been conducting research involving microscopic analysis.
He noted that there was an electron microscope unit at Columbia University – close to the engineering department, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He recommended that I ought to seek a job with them. I dismissed the idea, saying that I was about to fly to Europe and, more critically, I lacked a US visa.
The next day I toured the city, going back to the cafeteria that night. The engineering student walked over to me and let me know that he had arranged an interview for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Since he had made the arrangement, I attended the interview – but right away informed my interviewer that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was probably wasting her time.
In typical New York fashion – a metropolis where anything feels possible – she declared: “That can be arranged. When can you start?” I didn't board the aircraft to London.
I held that position for three years. One of the benefits was that I was granted complimentary education at Columbia, and I seized the chance to complete a master’s of international affairs.
I never saw that student again and I don’t even know his identity, but his incredible act of kindness altered my destiny in so many ways. I would never have had the courage or nerve to reach out at an elite institution and request employment. Additionally, I had consistently hoped to pursue education overseas, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that educational benefit.
What's more, that gig at Columbia resulted in a job in Zurich where I encountered my beautiful French husband, with whom I now have four amazing children. It was a total sliding doors moment. That kind stranger changed my trajectory in life, and I’m forever grateful.
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