“One would think that the last place to find a starved and unkempt street urchin is in a book store.”
He was shoeless and wearing tattered clothes when Sedricke Lapuz, an Assistant Professor at UP-Manila, snapped this shot of him reading a book on the floor of the Pedro Gil branch of the bookshop Booksale back in May.
Lapuz was amazed at the child’s apparent passion for reading and submitted the photo to YouScooper, the citizen journalism arm of the website GMA News Online, “The Go-To Site for Filipinos Everywhere,” hoping to raise awareness of the child’s plight.
GMA ran the story a couple of days later and the photo went viral amassing 14,000 likes and 6,000 shares on Facebook in 48 hours and now not only is the identity of the child known but donations are being sent to help him with his education.
He is 13-year-old Mark Jayvee “MJ” Mojon and he “frequents the store to beg for money or food. But on some days, he also stops by to read.”
Trio of stories at GMA:
The boy who reads: A story of hope from a viral photo
Viral photo of book-loving street kid moves netizens
Barefoot streetkid buries self in book