Coming together, working together, succeeding together!
Who we are
family affair was set up by Dr. Vijayan Loganathan, who leads and drives the group’s activities and projects. Dr. Vijayan is a dentist by profession. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Medicine (Prosthodontics), Singapore and is a lecturer in Dentistry at the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Polytechnic, Singapore.
Dr. Vijayan is actively involved in healthcare missions to various countries including Indonesia, Thailand, Nepal, India, Cambodia, Vietnam, Africa, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, providing healthcare to villagers in remote areas. He has undertaken numerous such missions. Some of his key medical mission trips are
Leading a group of 25 dental professionals to Mysore, India for two weeks in 2004 to provide basic dental care to the villagers of Mysore. 3 months as a volunteer dental surgeon at the Global Hospital on Mount Abu.
Conducted a 6-month counseling and motivation course for the older boys of the Sri Rama Krishna Mission covering topics from self-esteem to abuse.
Spent some time at the Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa) in Kolkatta, India, working with the disabled children.
Spent 10 days in Phuket, Thailand, as a volunteer in Forensic Dentistry helping identify victims of the 2004 Tsunami.
Participated in a week-long medical mission to Sri Lanka in 2010, as part of a team providing medical and dental services to victims of the civil war.
Our Objective
“Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go” – Mother Teresa
One of the major objectives of family affair is to bring happiness, joy and laughter to less-privileged, deprived children. All of the team members have had the privilege to have grown up in very loving, nurturing family situations and feel that this feeling of being loved and cared-for, should be created and imparted, even for a short period of time, in the lives of these children, many of whom have grown up only in institutions and have probably NEVER experienced love.
Apart from showering love and affection on the children, a primary intention of our visit is also to involve the children in activities, from which they can learn skills that can be potentially used to earn a livelihood. What we do is to try and make a lasting impact on the children.
An important component of our project is recreation for the children through a visit to the movies and an outing (to a park, a beach, a mall), which in most cases is a first-time experience for the children. Besides, we provide sumptuous meals throughout the course of the project and end with a grand farewell dinner. Where possible, and funds permitting, we also leave a goodie bag for the children while leaving.