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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. Since my travel mate was exploring starting a postgraduate program in the Big Apple, we had arranged a two-week stay there en route to London.

We reached the postgrad residence, a sizeable ten-floor structure on the Manhattan's Upper West Side known as International House. Setting down our luggage, we made our way to the dining hall, where we got some food, sat down, and started talking to people eating there.

Sitting next to me was an gentleman from Iraq 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 recently completed my studies with a degree in science and had been working on studies involving microscopic analysis.

He noted that there was an microscopy facility at the university – right next door to the school of engineering, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He recommended that I consider applying for a job with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, saying that I was about to fly to Europe and, more critically, I lacked a US visa.

A day later I toured the city, going back to the cafeteria that night. The engineering 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 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 unable to accept the role.

In typical New York fashion – a city where everything seems achievable – she responded: “We can make that happen. How soon can you begin?” I didn't board the aircraft to London.

I worked there for a trio of years. A perk of the job was that I got complimentary education at Columbia, and I used the opportunity to finish a master’s of international affairs.

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 confidence or self-belief to reach out at an prestigious college and seek a position. And, I had consistently hoped to take classes in another country, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that educational benefit.

Perhaps most importantly, that job in New York led me to a role in Europe where I met my handsome spouse from France, with whom I now have 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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