“The most successful thing of my life is that I have contributed to bring Vietnam and America closer together, like many American citizens and Vietnamese people together are sitting here, in this room, together,” humanitarian Le Ly Hayslip shared at a meeting in Ho Chi Minh City on December 7.
The meeting is part of the event held by the American Center under Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Consulate General in HCMC to screen the full version of famous movie “Heaven & Earth” made in 1993by renowned director Oliver Stone who has made his name with films on Vietnam War. The movie was adapted from the two books “When Heaven and Earth Changed Places” and “Child of War, Woman of Peace” in which Le Ly wrote about her experiences during and after the Vietnam War.
Although the film has earlier been screened in Hanoi for five times, this is its premiere to city audiences.
After the screening part, Le Ly also had a Q and A session with audiences including local residents and a number of foreigners and local press to talk about her book as well as the movie.
The 63-year-old woman shared that she started to write her first book “When Heaven and Earth Changed Places” in 1986 during her first return to Vietnam after 16 years leaving for America. The book was finished in three years.
“When I came to America, I saw a lot of people didn’t understand about the Vietnam War,” Le Ly said. “I decided to write the first book to tell Americans the pain that Vietnamese people have suffered. There are many people in Vietnam like me but they have not been able to speak up about their pain.”
After the first return to Vietnam, Ly realized that it is necessary to do something to help her country. Since 1987, she founded two charitable organizations including East Meets West Foundation and Global Village Foundation for humanitarian and emergency assistance to the needy in Vietnam and some other countries of Asia. She is now running a program called “Tu Sach Luu Dong” (Mobile Bookcases) offering free books for children in remote areas across Vietnam.
Asked how successful she has been after 40 years living in the U.S, the woman, who still keeps her Vietnamese style in dressing and talking, said she is rich compared with the poor but she is poor compared with the rich.
“The biggest success of my life,” she said, “is contributing to tie the relationship between the two countries after the war.”
“I hope the younger generation of Vietnam will put effort into learning to develop and progress our country,” she added.