Texas student raises $60K to adopt Haitian baby found abandoned in the trash
The Haitian native is seeking to pay the fees to adopt the now-5-year-old boy and assist with his own education.
During a visit with family in his native Haiti, college student Jimmy Amisial noticed a group of people crowded around a pile of trash. There, lying atop a garbage pile and covered with ants was a 3-month-old baby boy.
“I was looking at the precious living soul, just crying, and my heart dropped to my throat,” Amisial, who was 22 at the time, told The Houston Chronicle.
Amisial rescued the baby and reported the abandonment to the police. Authorities would inform him that he could become the boy’s guardian. After considering the momentous undertaking, Amisial made the commitment, naming him Emilio Angel Jeremiah.
Now, five years later, Amisial is hoping to adopt Emilio and hopefully bring him to the United States. The child currently lives with Amisial’s mother in Haiti.
“He’s so fun to be around,” Amisial said of Emilio, who turns 5 at the end of this month and with whom he chats several times a week via WhatsApp. “I really miss him and I can’t wait to see him. Whenever I get the chance to go back [to Haiti], I will.”
Delaying the return to his homeland is unrest there and his own immigration issues in the United States. Currently, Amisial has an application pending with immigration services for Temporary Protected Status, which Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas granted to Haiti last year.
Meanwhile, the GoFundMe fundraiser has exceeded its $60,000 goal to complete the adoption. It also notes that any additional funds will be used for Emilio’s schooling in Haiti, to support a local orphanage and to possibly help Amisal pay for college. In Livingston, he studied at Texas Independent Baptist Seminary and Schools. Now, he currently lives in San Marcos where he has credits at Texas State University.
“I would like for me to be able to show him [Emilio] love and be financially stable, finish school and be able to take care of him and show him how to be great, show him love, how to be kind to people,” Amisial said.
On the GoFundMe page, Amisial expressed some of his feelings about his role as a caregiver. “It hasn’t been easy, but it’s a blessing. One thing I know is that, you can never go wrong when you choose love. It was those divine moments and interventions to show love, clarity and show the world that we can do better,“ he wrote.
“I’m glad that I get the opportunity to transform his life from being abandoned in the TRASH to a wonderful TREASURE.”
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