During the late 1980s, I was beginning a low-cost journey to Europe with a friend. Since my companion was considering starting a postgraduate program in New York, we had booked a fortnight visit there en route to London.
We got to the student accommodation, a big 10-storey building on the UWS named International House. After dropping our bags, we made our way to the canteen, where we picked up meals, found a table, and began chatting with other diners.
Sitting next to me was an individual of Iraqi origin studying engineering at a prestigious New York university. He asked me what I did, and I shared that I had newly finished with a scientific background and had been working on studies using an electron microscope.
He pointed out that there was an electron microscope unit at the university – adjacent to the school of engineering, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He proposed that I ought to seek a role with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, saying that I was soon departing to Europe and, more critically, I didn’t have a US visa.
The next day I went out exploring, going back to the cafeteria that after dark. The engineering student came up to me and told me that he had organized a discussion for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Because he had taken the effort, I went to the meeting – but immediately told my prospective employer that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was likely not a suitable candidate.
Reflecting the city's spirit – a metropolis where anything feels possible – she responded: “We can make that happen. How soon can you begin?” I didn't board the aircraft to London.
I worked there for 36 months. A perk of the job was that I also received complimentary education at Columbia, and I seized the chance to complete a postgrad program in international relations.
I never saw that student again and I don’t even know his name, but his remarkable generosity transformed my future in numerous aspects. I lacked the courage or self-assurance to contact anyone at an prestigious college and ask for a job. Moreover, I had long dreamed to take classes in another country, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that educational benefit.
Critically, that job in New York resulted in a job in Zurich where I got to know my beautiful French husband, with whom I am raising four amazing children. This was a pivotal life event. That benevolent individual redirected my path in life, and I’m forever grateful.
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