PLATTSBURGH — Everywhere she goes, Vietnamese-American novelist Le Ly Hayslip leaves something behind.
Friday afternoon, the self-described author, peacemaker and philanthropist gave SUNY Plattsburgh English and journalism students the best advice she had.
“Don’t fall in love. Don’t get married. Get a backpack and travel everywhere,” Hayslip said at the conclusion of a luncheon at President John Ettling’s house.
Hayslip and Thuan Le Elston of USA Today’s Editorial Board spoke to the students, who sat, entranced, on Ettling's living-room floor.
EVENT TONIGHT
Hayslip, back in Plattsburgh for the first time since 1994, will give a presentation at the Lake Champlain International Film Festival, which runs through Nov. 5 at the Strand Center for the Arts.
The “Big Day” showcase, which will include Hayslip’s presentation, will screen a series of short, family-friendly refugee films tonight.
Oliver Stone’s 1993 film “Heaven and Earth,” based on Hayslip’s memoirs “When Heaven and Earth Changed Places” and “Child of War, Woman of Peace,” will run afterward at 7:10 p.m.
TROUBLING TRIP
Hayslip fled her central Vietnam village at age 14 after enduring torture and rape by the southern Vietnamese government and Viet Cong soldiers.
“You’re very lucky to have lived someplace like here,” Hayslip told students.
She became a mother of three, moved to California, acquired three houses and opened a restaurant.
But in 1986, Hayslip went back to her homeland for the first time in more than 20 years.
“When I went to Vietnam, I could have pulled my heart out,” she recalled of the depressing post-war conditions.
“I would give everything to be a service to humanity,” she decided.
STARTED FOUNDATION
In 1988, she founded the East Meets West foundation, a nonprofit organization that serves unindustrialized Asia and Africa.
“At first, we survived mostly on veterans’ consciences,” said Mark Conroy, an employee of East Meets West.
The foundation has funded and built 18 major hospitals, including a cardiovascular center, more than 300 schools, 200-plus water systems, libraries, orphanages and “tens of thousands of toilets.”
Decades later, the organization continues to help the countries thrive.
“You want your development work to be sustained,” he said.
MET ON SET
Hayslip’s on-camera sister, Thuan Le Elston, fled Saigon with her family the week before Saigon fell in 1975. She was 9.
She eventually became a news reporter for the Los Angeles Times. While in California, she met Hayslip through a happy accident.
She and a friend auditioned for “Heaven and Earth,” not yet knowing the film would be based on Hayslip’s books. The friend auditioned to play Hayslip’s character. Thuan auditioned for the role of the “big, bad, mean” sister.
“I got the part. She did not,” Thuan said.
The two women met on set.
Thuan remembers the feeling of watching Hayslip on set in Thailand and Vietnam.
“Looking at Le Ly, it was almost like she was haunted by ghosts. She was home but not home,” Thuan said.
'LEARN FOR YOURSELF'
Hayslip said she doesn’t know who God is, but she talks to him.
“If you give yourself to the universe, someone takes you and runs with it,” she said. “What did I know about writing a book, with a third-grade education?”
She urged students not to believe anything she — or anyone — said.
“You have your own intelligence and your own mind. Learn for yourself as much as you can.
"You haven’t seen anything yet, but it will come.”
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