Videos and photographs that have gone viral are often tagged with the strange, bizarre and amusing news. This is not so in the case of a picture that captured a Filipino boy studying in the pavement using a wooden bench and the light of a nearby McDonald's outlet. The heart-wrenching - but also inspiring - image sent the Internet abuzz recently and managed to move people into helping.
Daniel Cabrera, the now popular 9-year-old in the photo, has been deluged with aid that included cash, school supplies, educational scholarships, and, of course, reading lamps. Before the photo was taken, he said that he only had a single pencil after his second pencil was stolen by a classmate, according to a Daily Mail interview. His mother, Christina Espinosa - who is juggling work as a grocery employee and a domestic helper at the same time - could only exclaim in wonder and gratitude for her son who wants to be either a doctor or a policeman someday. "We're overjoyed. I don't know what I will do with all of these blessings," she said in an interview with Yahoo News.
Joyce Torrefranca, a college student, captured the interesting photo in Mandaue City, in Cebu island and posted it with a caption: "I got inspired by a kid," on her Facebook account. It was then shared almost 7,000 times and the story was then picked up by several local and international news outlets.
Daniel and his family have been living in the mini grocery store where his mother works. According to Espinosa, their house was razed in a fire five years ago, according to a Telegraph report. She was raising the family on her own since her husband died in 2013.
Daniel, who is a grade 3 elementary student, "is a very studious and determined boy... he would insist on going to school even without his lunch money because I have no money to give," his mother told the Telegraph. Daniel has also maintained that he does not want to stay poor. This statement resonates in the Philippines because Daniel represents a significant portion of the population living below the poverty line. Despite the country's strong economic growth recently, millions still live on less than one dollar a day. The still continuing stream of aid for Daniel was also extended to his community, particularly the local church and the city's social welfare office. Violeta Cavada, the city's social welfare chief, said that her office is now experiencing difficulty in managing the amount of financial assistance, Daily Mail reported.