When visiting Haiti in 2017, Jimmy Amisial stumbled across a gut-wrenching scene: a 4-month-old baby covered in ants in a trash can. His mother has taken care of the boy, whom he named Emilio, ever since then, and Amisial has split his time between Texas and Haiti. But this year, Amisial’s application to adopt the child was approved, the Mirror reports. “When I was asked to raise him, I stayed awake for days tossing and turning, trying to make a decision,” said Amisial, who is studying at Texas State University. “I was already behind on my university fees and my family has always struggled to make ends meet, but I didn’t have a dad growing up, and this poor child was facing a lifetime of instability and uncertainty. Something inside was telling me that this had happened for a reason—so I took a leap of faith.”