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During the final years of the 1980s, I set out on a budget travel adventure to the European continent with a travel partner. Since my travel mate was considering starting a postgraduate program in the Big Apple, we had booked a fortnight visit there en route to London.

We reached the graduate housing, a big 10-storey building on the Manhattan's Upper West Side named International House. Setting down our luggage, we went directly to the cafeteria, where we got some food, sat down, and started talking to fellow residents.

Sitting next to me was an gentleman from Iraq pursuing an engineering degree at Columbia University. He asked me what I did for a living, and I told him that I had recently completed my studies with a degree in science and had been working on studies using an electron microscope.

He pointed out that there was an electron microscope unit at the institution – right next door to the engineering faculty, which was why he was aware of it. He recommended that I ought to seek a role with them. I dismissed the idea, saying that I was soon departing to Europe and, more critically, I lacked a US visa.

The next day I ventured out, coming back to the dining hall that after dark. The engineering student came up to me and told me that he had set up a meeting 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 immediately informed my prospective employer that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was unable to accept the role.

In typical New York fashion – a place where anything feels possible – she declared: “We'll handle it. When can you start?” I didn't board the aircraft to London.

I held that position for three years. A perk of the job was that I got no-cost classes at Columbia, and I seized the chance to earn a master’s of international affairs.

We didn't cross paths after that and I don’t even know his name, but his remarkable generosity transformed my future in numerous aspects. I would never have had the bravery or nerve to contact anyone at an Ivy League university and request employment. Moreover, I had long dreamed to pursue education overseas, but could never have afforded it without that free tuition.

Critically, that gig at Columbia resulted in a job in Zurich where I met my beautiful French husband, with whom I currently share four wonderful sons and daughters. This was a pivotal life event. That kind stranger redirected my path in life, and I’m forever grateful.

Tell us about the Kindest Gesture a Stranger Has Ever Done for You?

From cheering you up to altering your path, we are interested in random meetings that have stuck with you.

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