Vicky moved to Thailand and lost contact with her family domestic worker, but when it came to her birthday she knew she had to do something special!
Johannesburg, South Africa – South Africans are known for their loving nature and deep connection to family and friends. Whether having the same zip code or to having oceans separate them, it will not stop locals from sharing love and kindness with their nearest and dearest.
For one individual, **Vicky, it was almost near impossible to get in touch with her family’s helper Emily for her birthday, after she had moved to Thailand. With no prior information and after numerous attempts at connecting with Emily even after reaching out to various large corporations, all Vicky was able to acquire was an address.
Unable to do much with this information being thousands of kilometres away, Vicky called upon Uber to assist.
With an unusual request, but exceptional circumstances, the popular e-hailing app’s events team in Johannesburg, jumped at the opportunity to help make this birthday surprise genuinely memorable. With the assistance of local driver-partner, the team went to the provided address in Hamanskraal, Tshwane with a cake, flowers and recorded message in hand to surprise Emily.
However, a slight snag was hit, when the address provided was, in fact, not Emily’s. With some local help and community kindness from Hamanskraal, the Uber Events team with the driver-partner was able to locate Emily, just a few blocks down from the original address.
Elated, Emily quickly sat down and read the message from Vicky, then recorded her own. Closing the circle on the birthday surprise, Uber shared the sweet message with Vicky, who welled up with tears after knowing that she was able to provide just a little bit of joy into Emily’s life.
Ubuntu isn’t just a local proverb but lived through in the actions of the communities that make up this country. With kindness to spare and helping hand, it goes to show that sometimes a little bit of love, can actually go a long way!
**Surnames unknown as the story was submitted
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