Joyce Torrefranca of Manila, the Philippines saw this boy doing his schoolwork outside of a McDonald's late at night. She took a couple photos, posted them on Facebook, and said that she felt inspired by him.
Other people shared those photos, which soon went viral and attracted national attention. Reporters tracked down the boy. He's 9-year old Daniel Cabrera. He lives with his mom, who works at the McDonald's. Their home recently burned down, so they're homeless.
After Daniel and his mom made a radio appearance, donations and other assistance have been pouring in to help them. BuzzFeed reports:
A local politician, Rep. Samuel Pagdilao, has given Daniel a scholarship, and Espinosa has been given grants from sponsors to start her own business, ABS-CBN reported.
The family have also received donations of money and food from local law enforcement and are working with a social worker to see how else they can be helped, according to the TV station.
Poverty is rampant in Manila. People live in shanty towns of corrugated metal and whatever else they can scrape together, and send their children out to beg in the middle of the street. I can remember one intersection where as soon as the light turns red, these beggar children run in between the cars (4-5 lanes), and start tapping on the windows for spare change. Many of the kids are not even tall enough to be seen clearly.
It's a feel-good story, but they can't all get scholarships.
And yes, English is the lingua franca for the PH. Someone from Manila may not understand someone's dialect from Baguio, so they communicate in English.