During the closing decade of the 80s, I was embarking on a low-cost journey to the European continent with a friend. Because my friend was exploring starting a postgraduate program in New York, we had arranged 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. Setting down our luggage, we went directly to the cafeteria, where we grabbed food, took a seat, and began chatting with other diners.
Beside me was an gentleman from Iraq enrolled in an engineering program at a prestigious New York university. He inquired what I my profession was, and I explained that I had newly finished with a degree in science and had been performing experiments with electron microscopy.
He noted that there was an microscopy facility at Columbia University – adjacent to the engineering department, which was why he was aware of it. He recommended that I ought to seek a position with them. I dismissed the idea, explaining that I was heading off to Europe and, more critically, I did not possess a US visa.
A day later I toured the city, going back to the cafeteria that evening. The man from Iraq approached 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 made the arrangement, I attended the interview – but immediately told my host that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was probably wasting her time.
In typical New York fashion – a place where opportunities abound – she said: “We'll handle it. How soon can you begin?” I never got on that flight to London.
I worked there for a trio of years. A perk of the job was that I also received no-cost classes at Columbia, and I used the opportunity to complete a graduate degree in global studies.
I never saw that student again and I am unaware of his name, but his remarkable generosity altered my destiny in multiple respects. I lacked the confidence or nerve to contact anyone at an Ivy League university and ask for a job. Moreover, I had long dreamed to pursue education overseas, but could never have afforded it without that tuition waiver.
Critically, that gig at Columbia led me to a role in Europe where I got to know my beautiful French husband, with whom I currently share four amazing children. That encounter altered everything. That benevolent individual set me on a different course in life, and I’m always appreciative.
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