Aid after Filipino boy studying on street goes viral

Manila 

A homeless Filipino boy has been overwhelmed with aid after a heart-wrenching photo of him studying on the pavement and using faint light from a McDonald's outlet went viral on the Internet.

 Nine-year-old Daniel Cabrera will fulfil his dream of becoming a policeman after donations of cash, school supplies and a college scholarship poured in, his mother, Christina Espinosa, said.

 "We're overjoyed. I don't know what I will do with all of these blessings," the stunned 42-year-old grocery store employee and domestic helper said.

 The photo, posted on Facebook last month by a college student, showed Cabrera doing his homework on a wooden stool placed close to a McDonald's window to catch the light from the store.

 The 20-year-old medical technology student, Joyce Torrefranca, captioned her Facebook post: "I got inspired by a kid."

 It was then shared close to 7,000 times on the social networking site and reported by local television.

 "I was in awe. While other street kids were begging for alms, he was studying," Torrefranca added.

 Espinosa and her three youngest children, including Cabrera, have been living in her employer's mini-grocery store since their shanty home was gutted by fire five years ago.

 Espinosa said she earned just 80 pesos ($1.77) a day working at the store and as a domestic helper for the store's owners in their nearby home. She augments the income by selling cigarettes and candy on the streets on Mandaue.

 Their grocery store home is close to the McDonald's outlet that had served as Cabrera's study nook, she said.

 Espinosa said, aside from the cash, school supplies and scholarship offer that would guarantee his education through college, people had given school uniforms and a reading lamp.