'Trash To Treasure': College Student To Adopt Child He Saved From Fire Ants In Dumpster

SAN MARCOS, TX — Jimmy Amisial’s life changed in a heartbeat.

In a twist of fate, the Texas State University student almost wasn’t in his native Gonaives, Haiti, on New Year’s Eve 2017. His passport had expired, and the mission trip to Haiti went on without him. He got his passport renewed and a flight at the last minute, thanks to the intervention of friends — and, he entertains the notion now, perhaps divine intervention.

In any case, that’s how Amisial, now 27 but 22 at the time, came to be on the streets of Gonaives the night his life changed forever. He was on his way to an orphanage to pass out presents to the children whose lives he had been involved in for years when he saw a curious but unperturbed crowd surrounding a trash dumpster.

Amisial couldn’t believe what was happening. Inside the dumpster was a 3-month-old baby, thrashing and crying in pain as fire ants feasted on his naked body. Superstition is rife in Haiti, and people in the crowd thought the baby to be “cursed” by an evil spirit.

“There wasn’t a single soul willing to do anything about it,” Amisial told Patch. “My heart goes through my chest. ‘Guys, you can’t be like that,’ I say. They say, ‘The devil is trying to get to us.’ ”

Without hesitation, Amisial scooped up the baby, changing the child’s fate, too. For one thing, he would live and not die an unfathomably horrible death in a dumpster. For another, he would know one day that though abandoned with the garbage, he was as wanted as any child ever has been — not trash, Amisial said, but a much-loved treasure.

“We clicked,” Amisial said. “When I picked him up, he was crying. He stopped crying. I could feel the automatic connection we have.”

He took the baby home and he and his mother, Elicie Jean, cleaned him up and fed him. The baby’s body was badly bitten, and they applied lotion to ease the pain. They agreed to keep the baby overnight as police investigated. One night stretched into nearly 1,700 and counting.

Police were unable to find the abandoned baby’s parents. When a judge asked if he would be willing to become the child’s legal guardian, Amisial wrestled with the right thing to do.

“Wait! What?” he wrote on GoFundMe, where Amisial is now raising money to adopt the child, who he named Emilio Angel Jeremiah. He will turn 5 later this month. He’s happy; smiles a lot, especially when he and Amisial are talking; is social; and he loves to dance, play guitar and kick the soccer ball around.

After that night when so many people turned their backs on Emilio, Amisial faced his own demon: fear, not of the devil or occult, but the kind that dissuaded him from listening to his heart and saying yes to the judge.

“I didn’t know what I was going to do. I was confused,” he wrote on GoFundMe. “It didn’t seem to make sense to me. 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.”

Since that moment, Emilio has been Amisial’s son, and Amisial has been Emilio’s dad in every way but the legal tie Amisial is now pursuing.

“It hasn’t been easy, but it’s a blessing,” Amisial wrote on the crowdfunding page. “One thing I know is that you can never go wrong if you choose love.”

Amisial returned to Texas State in early 2018, as required by his student visa program, leaving the baby in the care of his mother. He sent money home to support them.

“It’s a love story, really, connecting people from all over the world through the bridge of love and kindness.”

— Jimmy Amisial

Amisial has been trying to adopt Emilio since 2019, an expensive process that caused him to turn to GoFundMe. There, nearly $136,000 of a $150,000 goal had been raised by Tuesday evening. The money will be used first to pay for the adoption, support Emilio’s education, help orphanages and needy families in Haiti and, if there’s any left over, help Amisial pay for his college.

A handful of people gave $100 and a few gave $200. One person gave $500, but for the most part the money was raised in increments of $5, $10 or $25 at a time as the story touched hearts and opened bank accounts around the world.

Amisial said he is humbled.

“The amount of support I have been given is incredible,” he said. “It’s a love story, really, connecting people from all over the world through the bridge of love and kindness. Let’s love and be kind so that we can have a better world.”

A mass communications major at Texas State, Amisial plans to return to the San Marcos campus this spring to finish his education. When he graduates next year, he hopes his son will be watching from the audience.

“Some of the blessings in life come in the form of challenges. If you want to be great, you have to face your challenges in life.”

— Jimmy Aimisial

He would like to live and work in the United States, because life will be better for Emilio, but also continue his work with orphanages in Haiti, in the throes of a humanitarian crisis. Over a third of the country lacks access to clean water and two-thirds of Haitians have limited or no access to sanitation service. Some 4.4 million Haitians live with food insecurity, and 217,000 children suffer moderate to severe malnutrition.

One day, with gentle words, Amisial will tell Emilio how they came to be father and son.

“Yes, he was left alone,” Amisial said, trying on the words he’ll use when it’s time. “But he’s not alone. He has a family that is here for him and cares for him.”

And, the ever-hopeful Amisial said, Emilio will know the message he helped spread to the world.

“I hope this journey can bring hope and be an inspiration to people,” he said. “In life, making this decision wasn’t easy. Some of the blessings in life come in the form of challenges. If you want to be great, you have to face your challenges in life.”

He wants that and more for Emilio.

“I want him to be happy, to have a great a life,” Amisial said. “I would like to teach him to love and how to be kind, to value other people’s lives and the value of other people. I would love for him to have a great life and leave a legacy.”

GoFundMe is a Patch promotional partner.