Abandoned baby left in a trash can soon to be adopted by his rescuer

A man from Texas is hoping to adopt a young boy whom he found abandoned in a trash can while visiting his native country of Haiti — but first, he needs to raise the money.

Jimmy Amisial, now a 27-year-old student at Texas State University, found a baby boy covered in ants in the garbage during a visit to Haiti in December 2017. Amisial was on his way to visit an orphanage with presents for the children on New Year’s Eve when he saw a crowd of people around a garbage can. Inside was an abandoned baby, but, according to Newsweek, no one was helping the child.

“He was crying and had no clothes on and I could see the pain in his eyes — I had to do something,” said Amisial.

He further explained on GoFundMe, “They thought the baby was cursed or had some evil spirit. [They] were so blinded by the intensity of magical ritual which is really [prevalent] in Haiti.”

He picked up the baby and took him home to his mother, Elicie Jean. Together they washed, clothed, and fed the baby before taking him to a doctor. Though the police attempted to locate the baby’s parents, they were unable to find them.

A judge then asked Amisial, age 22 at the time, if he wanted to be the baby’s legal guardian. He struggled with the idea at first, as he was behind on his school fees and his family struggled financially. He explained, “My spirit was agitated and kept me awake for days thinking about what to do. I have learned that in life ‘if you keep thinking on the things you cannot do it will feed your fear and starve your faith.’ I took courage and stood firmly to carry the cross. I was somewhat excited even though I did not know how I was going to be able to take care him.”

READ: Garbage man rescues abandoned baby thrown in dumpster

He agreed to be the child’s guardian, and named the baby Emilio Angel Jeremiah.

“[…] I didn’t have a dad growing up, and this poor child was facing a lifetime of instability and uncertainty,” he explained. “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.”

Amisial has been splitting his time between Texas and Haiti, where Emilio has been taken care of by Elicie Jean. While he has taken time off from school, he is working to complete his degree, and needs $30,000 to finalize the adoption. He has a GoFundMe to help him reach that goal.

“When I found him, he was 4 months old — now he’s nearly 5,” Amisial told Newsweek. “It’s been an incredible journey and watching him grow up has been so rewarding — I’m very proud of him. I had to do what I had to do when no one else wanted to do it, and I’m so grateful for the past four-and-a-half years. 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.”

Amisial, by (as he says) taking up this cross, is opening his heart and life to a child whom he didn’t expect and didn’t plan for, but who needed someone to stand up for him and love him. Emilio could have gone to the orphanage where so many children in Haiti live, but Amisial saw him as a gift, and willingly and lovingly accepted him into his life.

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