Altruism is alive and well in Singapore, as author and entrepreneur Tina Yuan proves by offering free English language classes to Vietnamese people there.
Born in Vietnam to Chinese parents, Yuan is fluent in English, Korean, Vietnamese and Chinese and has two degrees – one in communication, the other in Chinese – and has lived in the USA, China and now Singapore.
She started the lessons when she saw a gap in the services offered to Vietnamese women who came to Singapore to marry. Because any children they brought with them were finding it hard to access education, where the only language spoken is English, Yuan extended the classes to them as well.
“These babies are not entitled to the same treatment and care as children in Singapore, because they do not have Singaporean citizenship. Meanwhile, not all Vietnamese brides who come to Singapore to marry are well-off; some must work long hours to make ends meet, leaving them little time to care for and educate their children in the language,” Yuan told VNExpress International. The classes are taught by volunteers from around the globe, some of whom got involved after seeing the classes on the volunteer community page of Facebook.
