The Kindness of People We Don't Know: How a Man I Only Just Encountered Supported Me Land the Position That Changed My Life

During the final years of the 1980s, I was embarking on a backpacking trip to the European continent with a travel partner. Because my travel mate was interested in enrolling in graduate studies in the Big Apple, we had planned a 14-day stopover there before heading to London.

We reached the postgrad residence, a big 10-storey building on the Manhattan's Upper West Side named International House. Once we unpacked, we headed straight to the cafeteria, where we picked up meals, sat down, and started talking to fellow residents.

Adjacent to my seat was an gentleman from Iraq enrolled in an engineering program at Columbia University. He wanted to know what I my profession was, and I shared that I had newly finished with a scientific background and had been conducting research involving microscopic analysis.

He mentioned that there was an microscopy facility at the university – right next door to the engineering department, which was how he knew about it. He suggested that I ought to seek a position with them. I laughed it off, explaining that I was about to fly to Europe and, more critically, I lacked a US visa.

The following day I toured the city, returning to the canteen that after dark. The engineering student approached me and informed me that he had arranged an interview for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Because he had taken the effort, I showed up for the discussion – but immediately explained to my host that I didn’t have a 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. How soon can you begin?” I missed my plane to London.

I was employed there for a trio of years. A perk of the job was that I got no-cost classes at Columbia, and I seized the chance to earn a master’s of international affairs.

I never saw that student again and I am unaware of his full name, but his remarkable generosity changed my life in multiple respects. I would never have had the confidence or self-belief to approach someone at an Ivy League university and request employment. Moreover, I had long dreamed to study abroad, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that educational benefit.

What's more, that gig at Columbia paved the way for a job in Zurich where I met my beautiful French husband, with whom I currently share four amazing children. It was a total sliding doors moment. That kind stranger redirected my path in life, and I’m always appreciative.

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