NEW KENSINGTON, Pa. — The Penn State New Kensington International Committee will host Kent State University professor Mahli Xuan Mechenbier for a talk about her experiences as a child evacuated from South Vietnam during Operation Babylift.
The event will be held from 12:20 to 1:10 p.m. Sept. 24 in Room 51 of the Conference Center. The program is part of Penn State New Kensington’s "Country of Focus" series, which this year highlights Vietnam.
Mechenbier was adopted from South Vietnam after an American missionary nun found her next to a road outside Saigon. She was one of more than 3,000 children evacuated and relocated by the U.S. government in 1975, when Saigon came under attack. Operation Babylift, often described as a humanitarian mission, resettled children with families across the United States, Australia and other allied nations. Her presentation will invite discussion on citizenship, ethnicity and perspective.
For more background on Mechenbier’s story, visit Kent State Today.