A cafe-turned-shelter in Quezon City helped a street child reach her dream of being able to study by securing her first-ever birth certificate for enrollment.
Popburri on September 6 shared that Angel, an eight-year-old girl from a homeless family, has finally secured a birth certificate after over a year of trying to get one.
“Angel just got her first ever birth certificate and we are sooo excited to be enrolling her into kinder at the tender age of eight!” the cafe said on its Facebook page.
“Friends, you have no idea how many hoops we had to jump through to get this piece of paper, this brave girl came to us homeless and without all the proper info. Today, we are truly celebrating. Fighting to be born, literally,” it added.
Reports said that Angel and her family are among those that the cafe has been helping out with during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our team at Popburri is all about tulungan and we all understand that the lack of stability in living on the street affects children like her the most,” Popburri told the The Philippine STAR.
“We got Jeremy [Angel’s father] a job in Batangas. A few months later, they were back on the street and we hired him for part time construction,” the team added.
Popburri has been providing meals and groceries to the less fortunate. It is also helping them process government IDs and other documents and assisting them in employment for working opportunities.
The team turned its cafe into a shelter last year, offering food, water and soap for the homeless and other people in need when the government imposed community quarantine in Luzon last March.
It was eventually ordered to close after a barangay official alleged that it failed to follow quarantine protocols but that didn’t stop the cafe from reaching out to help those in need.
Reports note that the team is currently working to build a livable and comfortable shelter for homeless individuals.
Before the pandemic, the cafe reportedly offered shelter and free meals to stranded commuters when Typhoon Tisoy raged over the country.
