Leslie Tan (Arts and Culture)
Leslie Tan began his association with the SIF in 2014 as a recipient of the Singapore Internationale, our erstwhile grant for artists looking to bridge cultural understanding between Singapore and world communities through their work. As part of an Arts for Good initiative this year, Leslie led a music project in the Indonesian town of Cisarua, facilitated by musicians from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music and the Bandung Philharmonic. The project was aimed at empowering and improving the emotional well-being of Afghan refugees as they await resettlement. Leslie also fronted a new component in the SIF’s ongoing Enabling Palliative Care Trainers’ project in Bandung, Indonesia, working with healthcare specialist volunteers to incorporate music therapy into palliative care training to help both patients and their caregivers.
Russ Neu (Good Business)
For more than a decade, Russ Neu has been contributing his time and talent to the SIF through multiple programmes. He has served as an in-field volunteer in Vientiane, Laos and in Pariaman, Indonesia, respectively teaching English to senior officers of the Lao Foreign Service and sharing skills on student-centred learning with local educators. More recently, he spoke at the SIF’s inaugural Young Social Entrepreneurs Overseas Workshop in Shanghai, sharing his insights and experiences as a venture capitalist to programme participants hoping to start or scale up their social businesses. With the support of the SIF, he published a book “A Whole Neu World” detailing his experiences in Laos that has inspired many other volunteers.
Victor Samuel Rajadurai (Volunteer Cooperation)
Victor Samuel Rajadurai has been a specialist volunteer with the SIF for nearly 20 years, developing cross-border healthcare programmes that are aimed at reducing the mortality rates of infants and young children. His journey with the SIF began in 2001 on a neo-natal care training workshop in Myanmar. Since then, the Senior Consultant at KK Women's and Children's Hospital has been leading volunteer teams to India and Indonesia, where they train medical professionals to care for critically ill babies. At present, Victor heads an SIF Paediatric Emergency and Neonatal Care project in Surabaya, Indonesia. His contributions to the SIF’s healthcare projects have positively impacted the lives of thousands, from medical professionals to women and children and their respective communities.