During the closing decade of the 80s, I set out on a low-cost journey to the European continent with a companion. Because my travel mate was interested in pursuing a master’s degree in the Big Apple, we had booked a fortnight visit there en route to London.
We arrived at the graduate housing, a big multi-story edifice on the UWS called International House. Setting down our luggage, we went directly to the cafeteria, where we got some food, took a seat, and started talking to fellow residents.
Beside me was an Iraqi man pursuing an engineering degree at a prestigious New York university. He wanted to know what I did, and I told him that I had just graduated with a scientific background and had been performing experiments with electron microscopy.
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 position with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, saying that I was heading off to Europe and, even more importantly, I did not possess a US visa.
The following day I toured the city, returning to the canteen that evening. The man from Iraq 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 attended the interview – but immediately explained to my host that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was probably wasting her time.
Reflecting the city's spirit – a place where everything seems achievable – she responded: “We'll handle it. When can you start?” I didn't board the aircraft to London.
I held that position for three years. A perk of the job was that I got no-cost classes at Columbia, and I took advantage to complete a master’s of international affairs.
I never saw that student again and I am unaware of his full name, but his selfless gesture altered my destiny in multiple respects. I lacked the courage or self-belief to contact anyone at an elite institution and request employment. Moreover, I had long dreamed to take classes in another country, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that tuition waiver.
What's more, that role at the university resulted in a role in Europe where I encountered my beautiful French husband, with whom I currently share a family of four kids. That encounter altered everything. That helpful person changed my trajectory in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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