For a ride-hailing driver like Tuan, a birthday was just another day, a whirlwind of rides and Saigon’s dust. His friends were far away, and his family wasn’t in the habit of celebrating. That evening, after turning off his work app, Tuan sat wearily at a small roadside stall, scrolling through OVFRIENDS to kill time. He had never talked to anyone on it, only using it to read news from Vietnamese communities abroad.
Suddenly, a small notification popped up: “It’s your birthday today! Congratulations!”
The sender was an account named Donia, an elderly Italian woman. Accompanying the message was a sparkling birthday cake emoji. He felt happy, so he took a picture of his half-finished iced milk coffee and sent it back to her with a thank you.
A single sentence from a stranger halfway around the world had made Tuan’s otherwise forgotten birthday feel unusually warm. He chuckled, promising himself he would work hard so that next year he could treat himself to a trip to Italy.