Tanny Hagens - TLM Hero

Tanny Hagens is a Dutch cross-cultural worker who worked for The Leprosy Mission across four decades, serving in Thailand, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Myanmar and Ethiopia.

Tanny applied to do overseas work with The Leprosy Mission in 1982. After being accepted she studied at London Bible College and did training in linguistics and leprosy. After training in India, Tanny started her first working position with The Leprosy Mission in 1983 at McKean Hospital in Thailand.

Tanny worked on the front lines at McKean for seven years before she moved to serve The Leprosy Mission in Indonesia in 1989. Over two decades, Tanny served a variety of roles in Indonesia, including as a leprosy control supervisor, a technical advisor, and a project coordinator. At the end of these two decades, Tanny was appointed Country Leader for TLM Indonesia in 2009. As well as serving as Country Leader in Indonesia, Tanny was interim Country Leader in Papua New Guinea, and served for a short time in Myanmar

After 32 years of service to The Leprosy Mission in Asia, Tanny took on a new challenge with the role of Country Leader of TLM’s work in Ethiopia in 2015. She served in that role until her retirement in 2020, bringing to close a chapter of service that ran from the early 1980s right into the 2020s.

Cindy Norfor worked with Tanny over many years and had this to say about her,

“I’ve worked with Tanny for a long time and she has touched my life deeply through her trust and reliance on God’s direction in her life. She has weathered many storms, met much uncertainties through her journey with TLM. Through it all, she dealt with it all with such stoic determination and faith in God’s provision for her. It is individuals like Tanny and, her commitment to TLM, that have inspired me to see TLM not just as a place to work but a place to bless others, colleagues and people affected alike, for God’s glory.”