During the final years of the 1980s, I was beginning a low-cost journey to Europe with a companion. Because my friend was considering starting a postgraduate program in New York, we had booked a two-week stay there on the way to London.
We got to the student accommodation, a large 10-storey building on the UWS called International House. Setting down our luggage, we made our way to the dining hall, where we got some food, found a table, and started talking to fellow residents.
Beside me was an Iraqi man enrolled in an engineering program at Columbia University. He wanted to know what I did, and I shared that I had newly finished with a degree in science and had been conducting research involving microscopic analysis.
He noted that there was an research lab at Columbia University – right next door to the engineering faculty, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He proposed that I should apply for a role with them. I dismissed the idea, telling him that I was heading off to Europe and, additionally, I did not possess a US visa.
A day later I ventured out, coming back to the dining hall that evening. The engineering student approached me and let me know 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 straight off told my interviewer that I didn’t have a visa, so I was probably wasting her time.
In typical New York fashion – a metropolis where opportunities abound – she responded: “We can make that happen. How soon can you begin?” I missed my plane to London.
I worked there for a trio of years. An advantage of the role was that I got complimentary education at Columbia, and I used the opportunity to complete a graduate degree in global studies.
I lost touch with him and I am unaware of his full name, but his incredible act of kindness altered my destiny in multiple respects. I lacked the confidence or self-belief to contact anyone at an Ivy League university and seek a position. Moreover, I had always wanted to take classes in another country, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that educational benefit.
Perhaps most importantly, that gig at Columbia resulted in a role in Europe where I got to know my beautiful French husband, with whom I now have four wonderful sons and daughters. This was a pivotal life event. That benevolent individual set me on a different course in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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