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In the final years of the 1980s, I was beginning a backpacking trip to the European continent with a travel partner. Because my travel mate was interested in starting a postgraduate program in the Big Apple, we had booked a 14-day stopover there before heading to London.

We arrived at the graduate housing, a big 10-storey building on the Upper West Side named International House. Setting down our luggage, we headed straight to the dining hall, where we picked up meals, found a table, and began chatting with people eating there.

Beside me was an individual of Iraqi origin enrolled in an engineering program at an Ivy League institution. He asked me what I did for a living, and I explained that I had newly finished with a degree in science and had been conducting research with electron microscopy.

He mentioned that there was an research lab at Columbia University – right next door to the engineering department, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He suggested that I should apply for a role with them. I laughed it off, explaining that I was heading off to Europe and, even more importantly, I did not possess a US visa.

A day later I ventured out, coming back to the dining hall that evening. The man from Iraq came up to me and informed me that he had organized a discussion for me with the leader of the research team at Columbia. Given that he had gone to the trouble, I attended the interview – but right away told my interviewer that I was without a work permit, so I was probably wasting her time.

In typical New York fashion – a city where everything seems achievable – she declared: “We can make that happen. How soon can you begin?” I missed my plane to London.

I held that position for three years. One of the benefits was that I also received free tuition at Columbia, and I took advantage to complete a graduate degree in global studies.

We didn't cross paths after that and I don’t even know his name, but his selfless gesture transformed my future in multiple respects. I lacked the bravery or self-belief to reach out at an Ivy League university and ask for a job. And, I had long dreamed to study abroad, but lacked the financial means without that free tuition.

Perhaps most importantly, that gig at Columbia paved the way for a role in Europe where I met my handsome spouse from France, with whom I am raising a family of four kids. This was a pivotal life event. That kind stranger changed my trajectory in life, and I’m always appreciative.

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