Uncle Ong is 73 years old, walks with bowlegs, and had to wear a neck brace for weeks due to his physical decline.
Every night, in the industrial areas of Kallang and Hougang, in Singapore, where he lives, he crouches for more than an hour and a half to serve food to more than 23 stray cats. He has been doing so for almost 18 years, without missing a single day, whether it rains or the sun beats down on the asphalt. Before the public began donating food through a pet shop in 2023, he spent more than 400 dollars a month from his own salary as a bus driver—a salary of barely 1,000 dollars—just so no cat would go hungry.
His back is in bad shape, his knees are worn out, and he takes daily medication for a nerve problem that affects his posture. He has already fallen more than once. Even so, when he found a cat that had been hit by a car and lost a leg, he rescued it and saw it adopted, although that meant separating it from its brother, who still waits for it every night in Kallang.
His wife keeps insisting that he take a break and go on vacation with her to Thailand. He keeps putting it off. He says that if he ever stops driving the bus, he will still continue going to feed his cats, even if he has to drag a cart on public transportation to reach them.