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During the final years of the 1980s, I was embarking on a low-cost journey to Europe with a friend. Because my travel mate was interested in enrolling in graduate studies in the Big Apple, we had booked a 14-day stopover there before heading to London.

We arrived at the student accommodation, a big ten-floor structure on the Upper West Side called International House. Once we unpacked, we went directly to the cafeteria, where we got some food, sat down, and engaged in conversation with fellow residents.

Adjacent to my seat was an gentleman from Iraq pursuing an engineering degree at an Ivy League institution. He wanted to know what I did, and I told him that I had newly finished with a degree in science and had been performing experiments with electron microscopy.

He noted that there was an electron microscope unit at the university – right next door to the school of engineering, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He recommended that I ought to seek a role with them. I dismissed the idea, explaining that I was about to fly to Europe and, additionally, I lacked a US visa.

A day later I ventured out, coming back to the dining hall 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. Because he had taken the effort, I attended the interview – but immediately explained to my interviewer that I didn’t have a visa, so I was probably wasting her time.

In typical New York fashion – a city where anything feels possible – she responded: “We can make that happen. How soon can you begin?” I never got on that flight to London.

I worked there for a trio of years. A perk of the job was that I was granted free tuition at Columbia, and I used the opportunity to finish a graduate degree in global studies.

I never saw that student again and I am unaware of his identity, but his incredible act of kindness transformed my future in so many ways. I lacked the courage or self-belief to reach out at an elite institution and request employment. Moreover, I had long dreamed to pursue education overseas, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that free tuition.

What's more, that gig at Columbia led me to a position in Switzerland where I met my wonderful partner, with whom I currently share four wonderful sons and daughters. That encounter altered everything. That benevolent individual set me on a different course in life, and I’m eternally thankful.

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