🔗 Share this article

In the final years of the 1980s, I was beginning a backpacking trip to Europe with a travel partner. Because my companion was interested in enrolling in graduate studies in the Big Apple, we had planned a 14-day stopover there on the way to London.

We arrived at the student accommodation, a sizeable ten-floor structure on the Manhattan's Upper West Side called International House. Once we unpacked, we headed straight to the dining hall, where we grabbed food, took a seat, and began chatting with people eating there.

Adjacent to my seat was an Iraqi man enrolled in an engineering program at a prestigious New York university. He wanted to know what I did for a living, and I shared that I had recently completed my studies with a degree in science and had been working on studies with electron microscopy.

He mentioned that there was an microscopy facility at the institution – close to the school of engineering, which was how he knew about it. He proposed that I consider applying for a job with them. I dismissed the idea, telling him that I was about to fly to Europe and, even more importantly, I lacked a US visa.

A day later I toured the city, returning to the canteen that after dark. The engineering student approached me and told me that he had organized a discussion for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Given that he had taken the effort, I showed up for the discussion – but straight off explained to my prospective employer that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was unable to accept the role.

In typical New York fashion – a city where anything feels possible – she responded: “We can make that happen. When can you start?” I missed my plane to London.

I was employed there for a trio of years. One of the benefits was that I got 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 full name, but his remarkable generosity transformed my future in so many ways. I would never have had the confidence or self-belief to contact anyone at an elite institution and seek a position. Additionally, I had long dreamed to pursue education overseas, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that free tuition.

Perhaps most importantly, that gig at Columbia paved the way for a job in Zurich where I met my beautiful French husband, with whom I am raising a family of four kids. That encounter altered everything. That kind stranger changed my trajectory in life, and I’m eternally thankful.

Tell us about the Most Generous Act a Stranger Has Shown for You?

Whether it's cheering you up to transforming your future, we would love to know unexpected interactions that have left a lasting impression.

Feel free to recount your experience if you are an adult, without revealing your identity if you choose. Your responses are secure, and are intended for the goal of sharing inspiring stories.