Coming into Sight

ORBIS SINGAPORE CHARITY GALA 2016 FOR THE LAUNCH OF THE FLYING EYE HOSPITAL

Back in the 1970s, the leaders of the medical and aviation industries came together with one vision: to save the sight of the underprivileged and prevent blindness. Orbis International was founded and today, it has conducted over 1.4 million eye screenings in children through its Flying Eye Hospital and performed over 24,000 pediatric eye surgeries. At its gala dinner in Singapore last December, members of the medical and social community gathered to celebrate the launch of Orbis’ newest aircraft. A video featuring celebrity Cindy Crawford, who is an ambassador of Omega, which has supported Orbis since 2011, highlighted how Orbis’ funds had been channelled towards training doctors and nurses. This was followed by a time-lapse video showing the construction of the newest aircraft for Orbis—the MD-10-30F donated by Fedex—after which guest of honour Lam Pin Min, minister of state for health, then joined all the guests in switching on light bulbs found on each seat, to mark the launch. Host of the evening, Noor Quek, then led guests in putting on eye masks before the first course of dinner was served—to simulate what some 39 million blind people around the world experience at each meal. Guests including the Mongolian ambassador to Singapore, George Lkhagvadorj Tumur, gamely partook of their first course while blindfolded. As dinner commenced, entertainment was provided by Rob Collins, formerly of The Bellini Room, who took to the stage with Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, as well as a rousing flamenco dance segment and Noor Quek who performed I Wish You Love. She then continued with her duties as auctioneer, raising more dollars towards the Orbis cause by the end of the evening.