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In the closing decade of the 80s, I was beginning a budget travel adventure to the European continent with a travel partner. Since my companion was considering starting a postgraduate program in NYC, we had planned a two-week stay there before heading to London.

We got to the student accommodation, a sizeable ten-floor structure on the Upper West Side called International House. Once we unpacked, we made our way to the canteen, where we got some food, found a table, and engaged in conversation with fellow residents.

Beside me was an Iraqi man pursuing an engineering degree at an Ivy League institution. He asked me what I did, and I shared that I had newly finished with a degree in science and had been conducting research using an electron microscope.

He mentioned that there was an research lab at Columbia University – adjacent to the school of engineering, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He recommended that I ought to seek a job with them. I laughed it off, saying that I was soon departing to Europe and, additionally, I did not possess a US visa.

The following day I ventured out, going back to the cafeteria that evening. The engineering student walked over to me and informed me that he had set up a meeting for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Given that he had gone to the trouble, I went to the meeting – but straight off informed my prospective employer that I was without a work permit, so I was likely not a suitable candidate.

As is common in NYC – a place where anything feels possible – she said: “That can be arranged. How soon can you begin?” I missed my plane to London.

I worked there for 36 months. A perk of the job was that I was granted free tuition at Columbia, and I seized the chance to complete a postgrad program in international relations.

I lost touch with him and I don’t even know his full name, but his remarkable generosity altered my destiny in so many ways. I would never have had the courage or nerve to reach out at an elite institution and seek a position. Additionally, I had consistently hoped to take classes in another country, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that tuition waiver.

Critically, that role at the university resulted in a role in Europe where I encountered my handsome spouse from France, with whom I now have a family of four kids. That encounter altered everything. That helpful person redirected my path in life, and I’m eternally thankful.

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