There are three kinds of people in this world:  those we know how to create opportunities for their lives, those we take the opportunities when they arrive, and lastly, those who are totally unaware of what is going on around them.  Le Ly Hayslip is a woman warrior who created opportunities for her own life.

Le Ly Hayslip is a Vietnamese American humanitarian, a survivor of the Vietnam War, as well as a “war child” and a “peace seeker”.  She personally experienced the horror and hardship of war but used all her might to utilize her experience to bring a positive impact on the U.S. and Vietnam at that time.  In order to help develop the backward Vietnam, she established East Meets West Foundation and World Village Foundation, bringing to the locals food and water, not to mention education, medical care and culture to the remote villages.  Her help was especially a huge blessing to the women and children of those areas, and her effort has gained global acknowledgment and support.

Who is Le Ly?

Born in 1949 in a farmer’s family in Ky La (currently known as Xa Hao Qui), Le Ly’s childhood memories are carefree, playing with friends in rice paddies and taking care of water buffalo .  Her innocent life ended suddenly at the age of 12, when the Vietnam War broke out.  She was clueless to the situation when U.S. helicopters flew over, and nor was she aware of the significance of the Americans to her and what the war meant to her and her family.  She didn’t even understand why the Communist Party and the Democratic Party were enemies.  During that time, the Vietcong taught children to be their spies to steal information.  Le Ly became one of these children and went to prison.  After being rescued by her brother, she lived with her sister, but her village was destroyed and her home shattered.  No one understood the cruelty of war more than her heart-broken mother, who lost her family.

Le Ly only had a few years of formal education and therefore could only get menial or dangerous jobs, such as working as a housekeeper, in the black market, or even selling drugs.  However, through her creativity and hard work, she learned how to speak some simple English and started befriending American soldiers, selling local souvenirs to those American soldiers who were leaving Vietnam.  Subsequently, she married Ed Munro, a kind and mature American engineer.

Leaving Vietnam,  living in the U.S.

In 1970, Le Ly left Vietnam with Ed and settled in San Diego, California.  She started to adapt to the American life.  Her husband didn’t like to eat rice so she learned to cook steak and potatoes.  She also learned English and tried hard to be a good housewife.  Having worked in a restaurant, she opened her own restaurant in Temecula.
 
Ed died of Emphysema in 1973, when Le Ly was only 24, but she knew she had to shoulder the responsibility of taking care of their 2 children, and she decided to start her own business.  In 1974, Le Ly married her second husband, Dennis Hayslip, but this marriage ended in 1982 with the death of Dennis.  She looked at her sons,  dried her tears, and kept on working hard and living optimistically.

Despite her lack of a formal education and any training in writing, Le Ly wanted to put her story in writing.  With the help of her older son, Jimmy, her first book, “When Heaven and Earth Changed Places,” was published by Doubleday Press.  In the book, she wrote, “In Vietnam, we called it the American War.”  This book, written by a Vietnamese American woman about her own experience during Vietnam War, moved many people.  Her second book, “Child of War Woman of Peace,” moved director Oliver Stone, who also experienced the Vietnam War, and became his inspiration to make a movie based on this book.

Going home to start the East Meets West Foundation

Ever since leaving Vietnam, Le Ly never gave up hope of going back to visit her mother and her relatives.  In 1986, 16 years after she left Vietnam, Le Ly finally went back to her home village, to the house where she lived as a child, and was saddened by the wreckage of her hometown left behind by the war.

Le Ly decided to establish the “East Meets West Foundation” to help Vietnamese people rebuild their homes destroyed by the war.  The long list of people seeking help included orphans, those who were ill from Agent Orange, and those who were injured from stepping on land mines.

In order to build hospitals, schools and libraries, Le Ly came back to the U.S. and worked around the clock to raise funds.  Her tireless effort was rewarded with support and funding.  In 10 years, the foundation raised $2.5 million U.S. Dollars to build hospitals and schools.

Le Ly is passionate and her enthusiasm is infectious, but, lacking management skills, she found it difficult to take care of the foundation and focus on her writing at the same time.  As a result, in 1999 she resigned from her post at the East Meets West Foundation and started a smaller foundation called “Global Village Foundation.”

Global Village Foundation focuses on basic education, mobile libraries, and dental care projects, for the rural villages.  To rid the marginal villagers of their generation-old poverty, ignorance and despair, Le Ly tried to raise their income by promoting culture and health education, thus giving them more freedom in the Socialist environment of Vietnam.

Between 1986 and 1998, Le Ly returned to Vietnam many times to continue her effort, and her spirits inspired many people.  Her foundation received support from friends from Japan, Thailand, and Singapore.  What surprised Le Ly was that her ideals were so supported by the students in Singapore that many of them went to Vietnam to help educate the children and rebuild their homes.

Teaching them how to fish – Education is the key

Le Ly’s foundation donated a large quantity of books to the libraries of 45 elementary school.  She said that nothing pleased her more than seeing children reading and studying.

In order to more effectively promote reading in the villages, Le Ly started the concept of the “mobile library” in Vietnam.  The books in the mobile libraries are replaced every 2 years and all the children are encouraged to borrow books.  Since 2006, Le Ly and her colleagues have started 1,000 mobile libraries, benefiting thousands of young people.  She firmly believes in the power of education and in “teaching them how to fish is better than giving them fish.”  In addition, Le Ly launched humanitarian projects by providing dental care and health education in the villages.  Members of the World Village Foundation are largely volunteers from Singapore.  They spend 4 weeks with the villagers, living and eating with them, and collecting living necessities for the villagers.

Honors

Le Ly received many honors, and she used these opportunities to promote her effort all over the world.  After a speech in Singapore, the audience was so touched by her story that many approached her afterwards offering their help.  Now, most of the assistance comes from Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Vietnam, and the U.S.  When asked if Vietnamese Americans were enthusiastic about helping, Le Ly said regretfully that she hadn’t received much.  But, she was very moved by the generosity and kindness of the Singaporeans and also very grateful for their selflessness.

What has Le Ly learned from her life?  What advice does she have for today’s young people?  How does she want to spend the golden years of her life?

My thoughts whirled rapidly around me and I really hoped to have a chat with Le Ly over tea.  After a while I finally got my chance…