Filipino 'sponge boy' bound for China with scholarship

"Usually, I started plying my business around by 3 pm and then went home by 9 pm or 10 pm. Then I need to do my assignments, everything I need to do for school until midnight," he said.

Life as a family breadwinner is not easy. He can earn 300 to 600 pesos (roughly $6 to $12) by selling sponges per day and sometimes had to rummage through trash in search for bottles and cans that he can sell to the junk shop.

The hectic life doesn't make Melvin drop his studies. "I don't have any choice because I can't stop. If I stop, there is a possibility that we wouldn't be able to go to school anymore," he lamented.

In 2018, his 13 years of hard work finally paid off. Melvin graduated with a bachelor degree from the University of Makati, becoming the first in his family to finish college. He got multiple job offers and later took a job at a brokerage company.

Melvin took to social media to express his gratitude for his customers who helped him reach his dreams and treated him like a family. Soon he was thrown into the limelight after his story of survival went viral.

Later the notice of Chinese government scholarships caught his attention. Melvin applied for it and passed.

"This is something new to me, I didn't know this before. Every time that I move forward, like I pass the interview, I submit the requirements, it gives me so much hope. But the process is not easy. They require time and effort. But it's worth it," he said.

Melvin now bids goodbye to the familiar streets in which he once plied his business. Studying in China will be Melvin's first time to be away from his family, but he sees this as a good turning point in life.