*Featured image contains photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash
Jimmy Amisial, a Texas college student, was on vacation in Gonaives, Haiti, in 2018 when he spotted a large crowd.
"When I got to the place where the people were making noise I saw a baby," said Jimmy, who was 22 at the time. "It was in a pile of trash crying, and there wasn't a single soul who wanted to do anything about it."
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The locals were afraid to touch the infant because they feared the child was cursed or evil, but Jimmy picked up the four-month-old and took him to his mother's home.
He had no clothes on. He had fire ants crawling all over him because he's been there for a couple of hours. When I picked him up he immediately stopped crying.
Jimmy Amisial
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Together with his mother, they washed, clothed and fed him milk, and took him to the doctor. The police launched an investigation, but the boy’s parents were never found.
After a hearing about the baby, a judge asked Jimmy if he would become the baby's legal guardian.
"When I was asked to raise him, I stayed awake for days tossing and turning, trying to make a decision," Jimmy said.
"I was already behind on my university fees and my family has always struggled to make ends meet. But I didn't have a dad growing up, and this poor child was facing a lifetime of instability and uncertainty," he continued.
After thinking about the judge's request, Jimmy agreed to raise the boy with the help of his mother, Elicie. "Something inside was telling me that this had happened for a reason, so I took a leap of faith. Sometimes you don't have to know what to do, you just have to be ready to do it," Jimmy said.
He named the baby Emilio, and in the past four and a half years, the two of them have developed an incredible bond.
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Jimmy, who is studying at Texas State University, has been splitting his time between the States and Gonaives, Haiti, where Emilio is being cared for by Elicie, while Jimmy is studying and working.
Now Jimmy has applied to formally adopt Emilio and officially become his dad, but he needs to raise $30,000 to complete the adoption.
"I truly do feel like a father, and I'm excited to put pen to paper and make Emilio my son, I just need to raise the money first," he said.
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Emilio, who started school this year, loves music and wants to be a musician when he's older. "I'm glad I got the opportunity to transform his life from being abandoned in the trash to being a wonderful treasure," Jimmy said. "It's been fun seeing him grow, he's a joy to be around. Mom loves him, the kids in the orphanage love him, and I love him as if he were my own. He really is a special little boy."
Even though Emilio wasn't his biological child, Jimmy treated him as his own. Fortunately for Emilio, Jimmy found him and made him a part of his family. Emilio would now grow up surrounded by love from both Jimmy and his mother Elicie, proving that family isn't always blood related, it can be chosen.
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