Water vendor to get own house

Jay Kummer “Dodoy” Teberio’s hard work and perseverance continues to bear fruits as a real estate company is set to grant the water vendor his “dream house.”

Nexus Real Estate Corp. Chief Executive Officer Shanna Lopez told SunStar Cebu that the company will give Dodoy a residential unit by the end of the year.

“We will gift him eventually with a unit, but not now. We are still drafting a series of events leading to the reveal of his dream home by December,” she said. The third child in a brood of four, the 21-year- old started selling water on the streets when he was 12 to help his parents pay for his studies.

Dodoy would be up by 5 a.m. to help his mother set up their stall and leave for school by 7 a.m. By 3 p.m., he would be out on the streets to sell water.

This he did from Grade 6 until his senior year in college.

Fueled by his experiences and a passion for teaching, Dodoy juggled selling water and going to school with determination.

Since he graduated almost two weeks ago with a Bachelor’s Degree in Education, private groups and the Cebu City Government have given Dodoy rewards in kind and in cash for his hard work.

Last month, he received a special award for inspiring the youth with his journey to get a college diploma despite the challenges he faced. He was one of the recipients of the Mayor’s Special Award given during the city’s Charter Day celebration last Feb. 24.

Aside from this, he has been chosen as a brand ambassador of the potable water he has been selling for the past decade. He has also been chosen as an ambassador of a famous bakeshop, which rewards outstanding students at the end of every school year.

With all these blessings he and his family have been receiving, Dodoy remains humble and grateful to everyone who didn’t lose faith in him.

In a short Facebook post, Dodoy, who celebrated his birthday last Friday, thanked his family, classmates and friends for their support.

“Above all, I’d like to thank the Lord for giving me good health and keeping my family complete. I’ll keep this short because I might cry,” his post read in Cebuano.