CEBU, Philippines–In Bantayan Island, Cebu, beyond the tourist-flocked district of Santa Fe, lies the town of Madridejos, with beautiful coastlines and a thriving fishing community.
Within the town’s center is a young kid who recently went viral online for his remarkable talent in math.
The kid is Lee Axel Avila, a nine-year-old, whose talent in finding the square root of huge numbers impressed several netizens.
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In a chance encounter, it was a Bantayanon native who saw the kid while he was in town for a short vacation. The kid’s talent amazed him, so he decided to share the kid’s amazing talent online.
Discovering Lee Axel Avila: The young math whiz
Lenard Bryan Lañohan, a native of Sante Fe, Bantayan Island, visited Madridejos on Sunday, August 15, to accompany his friends who wanted to explore a local tourist destination in the town.
While watching the sunset from the island, Avila approached the group of Lañohan and asked them if they could help him buy a cup of milk tea. In exchange, he challenged the group to answer mathematical equations on square roots.
The group accepted the kid’s challenge as Lañohan pulled out his phone to film the encounter in a live Facebook video. It started with numbers from two to three digits until the equations transitioned to square roots of four-digit numbers.
To their surprise, Avila answered correctly most of the equations with minimal errors. In some cases, the kid in this Cebu tourist island even dictated the first two decimal places of the correct answer.
The kid felt comfortable with the group and showcased his other talents. In the live video, he sang and danced to BINI’s hit song “Salamin,” entertaining Lañohan’s friends. In the end, the kid got his reward.
In an interview with CDN Digital, Lañohan said that Avila is usually found in the town’s center, approaching tourists to showcase his skill in exchange for any incentive.
Lee Axel Avila: Finding dad
However, behind his jolly personality and motivation to share his abilities, lies a dream he wishes to fulfill through his innate mathematical skills.
Avila is a Grade 4 student at the Madridejos Central Elementary School. In the live video, he mentioned that he sometimes practices his skills in solving square root equations to prepare for his high school education.
He currently lives with his mother and a brother in Madridejos, Cebu. Unfortunately, his parents separated just months after his birth. Since then, he has yet to meet his father, who, according to their last information, is now living in Manila.
Since then, he has made it his goal to meet his father again. So he started to use his skills to entertain tourists who flock to town in exchange for money.
According to him, he plans on saving up enough money to buy a phone so they can finally contact his father and get a chance to meet him in person.
Netizen’s support
Since a shortened reel was posted on Lañohan’s Facebook account, it has garnered 36,200 reactions and 2,600 shares from several social media users impressed by the kid’s talent.
According to Lañohan, several people also expressed their interest in helping the kid by sending monetary donations to help him find his dad.
“I’ve been receiving help from a few people so far, and once everything is gathered, I’ll make sure it reaches him,” he said as he explained how Avila’s mother has no access to social media and that he’s doing what he can to coordinate the influx of donations from concerned netizens.
For people who wish to help Avila, Lañohan’s contact lines are open through his Facebook account to ensure that the donations will immediately reach Avila’s family.
With the help of people like Lañohan, through the young kid’s impressive talent, he might soon get the chance to meet his dad.
