Associate Professor Tan Lai Yong, Director for Outreach & Community Engagement, College of Alice & Peter Tan

Upon graduation from NUS in 1985, Assoc Prof Tan Lai Yong worked as a doctor in Singapore. In 1996, he and his wife, and one year old daughter moved to Yunnan, China, and joined a community development team, working with the poverty affected in remote villages, caring for orphans, disabled children and leprosy affected. During his fifteen years in Yunnan, he cycled 30 km daily, created innovative ways to teach health and hygiene to the different Minority Ethnic groups and villages, planned for “surgery camps” for cleft palate babies and other disabled people, and also initiated tree planting (e.g. walnut) efforts that led to thousands of trees being planted to help raise farm income and also reduce soil erosion.

As part of the China National Day celebrations in 2004, Lai Yong was given the Friendship Award for Foreign Experts at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, an event that was graced by Premier Wen Jia Bao. Lai Yong was also given the Singapore International Foundation (SIF Award) presented by Mr. Lee Hsien Loong and the 2005 Singapore MILK Fund (Mainly I Love Kids) Award for Outstanding Youth and Children’s Worker by President Nathan. In 2007, the Yunnan Provincial TV Station ran a series on people in Yunnan and the viewers voted Dr Tan Lai Yong as one of the “Good Citizens of Kunming”. Lai Yong has written several books and his first book, “Biting the Bamboo” – Experiences of Work and Life in Yunnan, is in its 5th printing. He also wrote the book, “Two Ears but Only One Mouth – Reflections on Wisdom in Rural Yunnan” and “Pilgrims” – a photo journal of life in a Dai Village in Xishuangbanna. He is married and has two children who are now young adults.

Angie Tan, Instructor, College of Alice & Peter Tan

Angie Tan started working within different communities while she was still in school. Over the years, she worked on various types of projects across countries. Along the way, she picked up Sign Language. Her interest in community development led her to work with a Singaporean NGO full time where she set up orphanages and organised community development programmes in Thailand and Cambodia by working closely with the local community.

She received her Bachelor Degree of Commerce (Accounting & Marketing) from Curtin University, Australia, and obtained her Master of Arts from Nanyang Technological University.

Angie has led NUS students for study trips in Botswana, India and Myanmar. She is also proficient in sign language and volunteers with the hearing-impaired community.