Favourite canteen uncle moved to tears after kind Singaporean student surprises him with a cake for his birthday

SINGAPORE: A young woman recently gave a canteen uncle a surprise for his birthday, bringing him a piece of cake and even singing for him. To her surprise, he told her that this was the first time in his life that his birthday was celebrated in this way.

Chloe (@chloee._lee) documented the touching moment in a video on TikTok earlier this week. 

At the beginning of the clip, she can be heard calling out to Uncle Heng, who was standing with his back toward her near the tray return station at the Bizpark Canteen at Temasek Polytechnic in Tampines.

She starts to sing the happy birthday song in Chinese, and when he turns, he sees her holding out a piece of cake decked with different fruits, with a red and white striped candle.

Uncle Heng then takes the cake from her, smiles, and holds his thumb up in approval as Chloe cheers.

“No one has ever celebrated my birthday alone before,” he tells her in Chinese.

“No one?” she asks in astonishment.

“Last time, only my church will celebrate my birthday with me,” he adds, tearing up as he explains that he had gone to church for more than 10 years.

Uncle Heng then tells Chloe, “I’m very grateful for you. Thank you.”

“May God bless you,” she answers in return.

In a text overlay, she thanked Uncle Heng for never failing to bring a smile to everyone’s faces every time. 

“We love u!” she added.

In the caption, she wrote: “Shout out to the amazing Uncle Heng. More awareness for schools’ non-teaching staff; everyone’s birthday deserves to be celebrated.”

Chloe’s kind act perhaps meant even more, as she had gone out of her way during the holidays just to bring her surprise gift to Uncle Heng. Classes will not start until later this month.

Commenters on her video thanked Chloe for being so thoughtful.

“Uncle Heng is so happy to see you. Thanks for making Uncle Heng happy! You did fantastic; he will never forget you!” one wrote. 

“Uncle will remember this day for the rest of his life. Thank you for being so kind and thoughtful. Ought to learn from you!” added another. /TISG

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