During the closing decade of the 80s, I set out on a budget travel adventure to the European continent with a travel partner. Because my companion was exploring pursuing a master’s degree in New York, we had booked a fortnight visit there before heading to London.
We got to the graduate housing, a big 10-storey building on the Manhattan's Upper West Side named International House. Once we unpacked, we made our way to the dining hall, where we got some food, took a seat, and engaged in conversation with people eating there.
Sitting next to me was an Iraqi man pursuing an engineering degree at a prestigious New York university. He asked me what I did for a living, and I told him that I had recently completed my studies with a degree in science and had been conducting research with electron microscopy.
He mentioned that there was an electron microscope unit at the institution – adjacent to the engineering department, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He suggested that I ought to seek a position with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, telling him that I was soon departing to Europe and, more critically, I lacked a US visa.
The following day I toured the city, going back to the cafeteria that night. The Iraqi 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. Given that he had taken the effort, I went to the meeting – but straight off informed my interviewer that I was without a work permit, so I was probably wasting her time.
As is common in NYC – a city where everything seems achievable – she responded: “That can be arranged. What's your start date?” I never got on that flight to London.
I worked there for 36 months. An advantage of the role was that I got free tuition at Columbia, and I took advantage to complete a postgrad program in international relations.
I lost touch with him and I am unaware of his full name, but his remarkable generosity altered my destiny in multiple respects. I would never have had the bravery or self-belief to approach someone at an Ivy League university and ask for a job. Moreover, I had always wanted to pursue education overseas, but could never have afforded it without that tuition waiver.
Perhaps most importantly, that job in New York paved the way for a role in Europe where I got to know my beautiful French husband, with whom I now have four amazing children. That encounter altered everything. That kind stranger changed my trajectory in life, and I’m forever grateful.
Can you recall the Kindest Gesture a Unknown Person Has Shown for You?
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