Life has a way of throwing us a curve every now and again. At times, it is easy enough to toss it back or get out of the way but at other times, it is going to be something that affects us for the rest of our lives.
Nobody knows this better than Jimmy Amisial. In 2017, he was visiting his home country of Haiti when he was thrown a curve by life that changed his course forever.
Jimmy saw a group of people in the street and went over to see what the commotion was. When he arrived, he saw something he couldn’t believe. He said, “When I got to the place where the people were making noise I saw a baby.”
He continued, “It was in a pile of trash crying, and there wasn’t a single soul who wanted to do anything about it.”
He also thought that the baby was probably left outside for a few hours, at least.
He continued, “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.”
He decided to take the baby to his mother, and they cleaned the baby and cared for her ant bites. Jimmy was able to go before a judge the following day and they asked him if he would be willing to be the temporary guardian of the child.
He spoke with a local news station, saying: Sometimes you don’t have to know what to do, you just have to be ready to do it.”
He also gave an interview with CNN, saying: “I’ve always wanted to be a part of something great, and to me, that was the moment.”
Jimmy went back to college in the United States and his mother continued to care for the baby in Haiti. He is now trying to adopt the child, whom he named Emilio Enjole Jeremiah.
In an effort to afford the adoption, he has raised almost $170,000. If any of the money is not used for the adoption, it will be used for local orphanages in Haiti and to care for Emilio’s future. It might also help Jimmy go back to school.