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In the closing decade of the 80s, I was beginning a low-cost journey to the European continent with a travel partner. Since my friend was exploring pursuing a master’s degree in New York, we had booked a fortnight visit there on the way to London.

We got to the student accommodation, a big 10-storey building on the Manhattan's Upper West Side known as International House. Setting down our luggage, we went directly to the cafeteria, where we picked up meals, found a table, and began chatting with people eating there.

Beside me was an Iraqi man enrolled in an engineering program at Columbia University. He wanted to know what I did for a living, and I shared that I had just graduated with a degree in science and had been conducting research with electron microscopy.

He pointed out that there was an electron microscope unit at the institution – adjacent to the engineering department, which was how he knew about it. He recommended that I consider applying for a job with them. I laughed it off, saying 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 man from Iraq approached me and let me know 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 straight off informed my host that I was without a work permit, so I was unable to accept the role.

As is common in NYC – a place where opportunities abound – she declared: “We'll handle it. How soon can you begin?” I missed my plane to London.

I worked there for three years. A perk of the job was that I also received no-cost classes 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 selfless gesture altered my destiny in so many ways. I didn't possess the bravery or self-belief to contact anyone at an Ivy League university and ask for a job. Additionally, I had consistently hoped to pursue education overseas, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that free tuition.

Critically, that job in New York paved the way for a role in Europe where I encountered my handsome spouse from France, with whom I currently share four amazing children. That encounter altered everything. That benevolent individual set me on a different course in life, and I’m always appreciative.

Tell us about the Kindest Gesture a Stranger Has Once Performed for You?

Whether it's cheering you up to transforming your future, we are interested in chance encounters that have remained in your memory.

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