A photo of a Filipino homeless boy doing his homework in a carpark, changed his life

A photo of a Filipino homeless boy doing his homework outside in a carpark, using the lights from a McDonald’s restaurant changed his life forever

A homeless Filipino boy has become an inspiration after photos of him doing his homework outside in a carpark, using the lights from a McDonald’s restaurant because he had nowhere else to go, were uploaded onto Facebook.

The nine-year-old boy Daniel Cabrera lives on the streets of Cebu with his mother, after his father died and their family home burnt down, Rappler reports.

Daniel is a student in grade three and owns one pencil which he guards in his school bag with rosary beads.

“It (rosary) is to prevent my only pencil from getting stolen,” he told Rappler.

“I think I want to be a policeman….I also want to be a doctor.”

His mother Christina Espinosa reportedly earns 80 Philippine pesos a day which is about A$1.77.

Daniel said the only school material he was missing was a drawing book which he is waiting for until his mother could afford to buy him one.

University student Joyce Torrefranca spotted Daniel and uploaded the photos on her Facebook account with the caption “I got inspired by a kid”.

Local politician Samuel Pagdilao has since given Daniel a scholarship and his mother has been given grants to start her own business, according to ABS-CBN.

The family have received donations of money and food from local law enforcement and are seeing a social worker to see how they can be helped.

After the photo went viral, Ms Torrefranca updated a Facebook status about the photo’s influence.

“I didn’t think that a simple photo can make a huge difference. Thank you guys for sharing the photo. With that, we were able to help Daniel in reaching his dreams,” she said.

“I hope Daniel’s story will continue touching our hearts so that we will always be inspired and motivated in every situation we face in life.”