During the late 1980s, I was beginning a low-cost journey to the European continent with a companion. Since my friend was considering starting a postgraduate program in the Big Apple, we had planned a fortnight visit there before heading to London.
We got to the postgrad residence, a sizeable ten-floor structure on the UWS known as International House. Once we unpacked, we went directly to the cafeteria, where we got some food, sat down, and engaged in conversation with people eating there.
Adjacent to my seat was an Iraqi man enrolled in an engineering program at a prestigious New York university. He asked me what I did, and I told him that I had newly finished with a scientific background and had been performing experiments with electron microscopy.
He pointed out that there was an electron microscope unit at the university – close to the engineering faculty, which was how he knew about it. He suggested that I ought to seek a job with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, saying that I was about to fly to Europe and, more critically, I did not possess a US visa.
The following day I toured the city, coming back to the dining hall that after dark. The man from Iraq walked over to me and told me that he had organized a discussion for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Because he had made the arrangement, I went to the meeting – but immediately told my prospective employer that I didn’t have a visa, so I was unable to accept the role.
In typical New York fashion – a metropolis where anything feels possible – she declared: “That can be arranged. How soon can you begin?” I never got on that flight to London.
I was employed there for three years. A perk of the job was that I was granted no-cost classes at Columbia, and I took advantage to earn a postgrad program in international relations.
I lost touch with him and I am unaware of his name, but his selfless gesture altered my destiny in so many ways. I would never have had the confidence or nerve to approach someone at an elite institution and request employment. Additionally, I had consistently hoped to pursue education overseas, but lacked the financial means without that free tuition.
Perhaps most importantly, that job in New York paved the way for a job in Zurich where I met my wonderful partner, with whom I am raising four amazing children. That encounter altered everything. That helpful person set me on a different course in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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From cheering you up to transforming your future, we would love to know chance encounters that have stuck with you.
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