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During the closing decade of the 80s, I was embarking on a budget travel adventure to Europe with a travel partner. Because my friend was interested in starting a postgraduate program in New York, we had booked a two-week stay there on the way to London.

We arrived at the graduate housing, a big 10-storey building on the Manhattan's Upper West Side known as International House. Setting down our luggage, we made our way to the cafeteria, where we picked up meals, sat down, and started talking to other diners.

Sitting next to me was an gentleman from Iraq pursuing an engineering degree at an Ivy League institution. He wanted to know what I my profession was, and I shared that I had recently completed my studies with a scientific background and had been working on studies with electron microscopy.

He noted that there was an microscopy facility at the institution – right next door to the school of engineering, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He proposed that I consider applying for a position with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, telling him that I was about to fly to Europe and, additionally, I lacked a US visa.

The next day I toured the city, coming back to the dining hall that evening. The engineering student approached me and told me that he had set up a meeting for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Because he had gone to the trouble, I went to the meeting – but straight off told my interviewer that I was without a work permit, so I was probably wasting her time.

In typical New York fashion – a metropolis where everything seems achievable – she responded: “That can be arranged. How soon can you begin?” I never got on that flight to London.

I worked there for three years. One of the benefits was that I was granted no-cost classes at Columbia, and I used the opportunity to complete a master’s of international affairs.

We didn't cross paths after that and I can't recall his full name, but his remarkable generosity altered my destiny in multiple respects. I lacked the confidence or nerve to reach out at an prestigious college and ask for a job. And, I had consistently hoped to pursue education overseas, but could never have afforded it without that educational benefit.

What's more, that job in New York resulted in a position in Switzerland where I got to know my beautiful French husband, with whom I am raising a family of four kids. This was a pivotal life event. That benevolent individual redirected my path in life, and I’m forever grateful.

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