College student found a baby covered in ants in trash can while on vacation—what he did next stunned all
One small gesture can make a lot of difference in someone's life. When Jimmy Amisial was walking through Gonaives, Haiti, on his way to a New Year’s Eve party in 2018, he spotted a large crowd surrounding something. It was a baby, with no clothes on and fire ants crawling on his body. While the onlookers did not do anything about it, per CNN World, Jimmy did the unthinkable, and now the incident has changed his life forever.
College student Jimmy Amisial was on his way to a New Year's party during his vacation when he saw a massive crowd surrounding a pile of trash. "When I got to the place where the people were making noise, I saw a baby," Jimmy recalled to CNN. He added, "It was in a pile of trash crying, and there wasn't a single soul who wanted to do anything about it." While the locals were hesitant to help the baby, fearing the child would be cursed or evil, Jimmy, without hesitation, picked him up. A special bond was formed at that very moment. He said, "He had no clothes on. He had fire ants crawling all over him because he'd been there for a couple of hours. When I picked him up, he immediately stopped crying."
Jimmy soon took the child to his home, where his mother was confused seeing her son, who had gone off to a party, return with a 3-month-old infant. They cleaned the baby and noticed fire ant bites and allergic reactions. "We used some lotion to help stop the pain," he shared. Jimmy informed the cops and kept the baby overnight until further investigation proceeded. The next day, a judge showed up at his mother's house and asked him if he was willing to take temporary custody of the child, since nobody came forward to claim him. "After he asked me that question, I had a lot of sleepless nights. I tossed and turned, but my mother reminded me that things happen for a reason. I've always wanted to be a part of something great, and to me, that was the moment."
In 2019, he took the life-changing decision. Jimmy began the process to formally adopt the child and named him Emilio Angel Jeremiah but ran into a few troubles due to the cost of the process. Esther Chery, his lawyer in Haiti, has been working with Amisial on the adoption process since 2019. "What I know for sure is adoption is very expensive," Chery said. In 2020, Jimmy took a break from school, where he studied communications, to accumulate funds to adopt Emilio and support his family in Haiti. He later set up an online fundraiser, which has raised over $79,000 against its initial goal of $60,000. Having surpassed the goal, Jimmy now plans to utilize the funds for Emilio's future education.
When describing Emilio, Jimmy calls him a "fun person to be around." "My mom and I had an automatic connection with him. He calls me Dad. Even though I'm his temporary guardian, I still consider myself his dad." The now 27-year-old is determined to finish the adoption process and plans to go back to school to finish his studies. "I want him to be happy. I want to teach him how to love, and I want him to know that even though he was left alone, he's not alone," Jimmy said.