22 LUMEN | ALUMNI
The latest on our
Past Interviewees
By Daisy Chia
Lumen decided in its fifth year of publication to reconnect with a number of the alumni whom we had interviewed in the past and find out at which juncture of life they are at now , and also catch a glimpse of their aspirations and dreams .
Mohamed Fareez bin Mohamed Fahmy ( Class of 1997 )
Since the last interview for Lumen in June 2012 , Fareez – recipient of the Promising Social Worker Award in 2011 - and his wife Murshidah had welcomed a new addition to their family , their son , Fikri in March 2013 . Fareez had also completed his second Masters programme in Narrative Therapy and Community Work from the University of Melbourne , graduating with First Class Honours . He was also part of a Singapore team to receive the inaugural Salome Raheim Award .
Currently , Fareez is the Centre Head of Cheng San Family Service Centre , and now oversees 3 centres supporting a total of 30 staff in the organisation . He has been involved in various community-based initiatives with his team to explore how they can provide integrative support to children living in the Ang Mo Kio rental blocks . Their aim is to provide accessible programmes while further supporting more vulnerable families through casework and counselling services . Ideas are based on an empowerment model where they find platforms for children to showcase their skills as opposed to social workers just coming in from an “ expert ” position to provide didactic psychoeducation to the children and their families .
Fong Wai Hong ( Class of 2002 )
Former founder and Managing Director of OZHut , Wai Hong spent the last 3 years of his life on a journey of rediscovering himself and allowing the challenges of life to forge a deeper understanding of his purposes and beliefs . In 2012 , he left OZHut , his company in Australia to study Mandarin in Shanghai while exploring China . He ended up living there for nearly 2 years , during which he met his fellow co-founders of his new startup - StoreHub . Even though they started the business in China , they felt that South East Asia is the market that they want to serve . As a result , he relocated back to Malaysia where he has been based for the last 2 years .
For Wai Hong , it has been a humbling experience , starting afresh in a country of his origin where his prior successes were not recognized . In doing so , he has had the opportunity to really engage the challenges of Asia , and to allow his frustrations with all of Asia ’ s problems to find their expression in his