In his free time, Chris Delimond walks around Miami, capturing the city through the handheld camcorder that he saved up to buy and practice the techniques he hopes he will use one day as a movie producer.

Sometimes, the 20-year-old man from Port-au-Prince will walk across the Miami River. Other times, he’ll leave the house with no destination in mind.

From the right angle on the ferris wheel at Bayfront Park, he told the Herald, he can take amazing shots of the cityscape below.

“I knew I had to start somewhere,” he said.

Delimond came to Miami on holiday at 17 to visit cousins, then decided to stay. Largely on his own since, he is simultaneously working and studying while pursuing his passion for movies. He hopes to become “one of the greatest producers of the time” in the next decade.

Having a new computer, a video camera, and video editing software could help put Delimond on the path of his dreams. On his wish list is this Sony camera, which he describes as the perfect camera for both photo and film to hone his talents.

“Day after day, I want to polish my skills,” he said “I’m trying to make as much content as I can.”

Currently, Delimond lives in an apartment through Casa Valentina, an organization that helps youths who are housing insecure find stable housing and teaches them life skills. Raymond Garcia, a Casa Valentina program coordinator, described Delimond as a “nice and polite young man” who is laser focused on providing a better future for himself.

He’s working hard, said Garcia, to save enough money in his fast-food restaurant job to afford an apartment and a car in the future. He’s also pursuing his associate degree at Miami Dade College as a film student.

“Chris does not let any kind of tough situation put a damper on his motivation nor his upbeat personality,” said Garcia.

Casa Valentina nominated Delimond for the Miami Herald/elNuevo Herald Wish Book.

Delimond was born in 2002 in Florida. His mother, he said, was visiting on vacation from Haiti and did not know she was pregnant. But he was soon sent back to Haiti’s capital, where he was raised by his uncles, his grandmother, and a step-grandfather who “was like a second father.” He lived in Maïs Gaté, a neighborhood near the airport and not far from Cite Soleil. Growing up, Delimond said he would spend his money on daily internet service passes so he could watch TV shows and movies in French.

At 17, he came to Miami to visit his aunt and cousins. One week into the holiday, he decided to stay in the United States. Back in Haiti, his main prospects were taking over his grandmother’s construction materials business.

“I had a lot of dreams, ‘‘ he said, “Coming here, I felt like I had more possibility. I could have more, I could do more.”

He enrolled in 12th grade at Miami Senior High School, navigated an entirely different schooling system from the one he knew while learning English, and conducted his life in a language he did not speak. He earned his high school diploma.

But after overcoming that challenge, Delimond faced another obstacle: He could no longer stay at his aunt’s home. Delimond lived in Camillus House for four months before transitioning to Casa Valentina. There, he said, he has learned important life skills and started setting up the pillars for the life he wants to lead.

“Casa Valentina has helped me to transition to adulthood,” he said, “I didn’t know that much about budgeting, the importance of credit, mental health care.”

Delimond first enrolled at Miami Dade College’s north campus to study computer science. As a child he had enjoyed disassembling a family computer and admired the brilliant nerds in Hollywood movies who offered essential support to the main characters.

“But then I realized I had gone into it mostly for financial gain, and it was a childhood dream that was not really strong enough for me to pursue,” Delimond said.

As he thought about what he might want to pursue next, he realized that he had always loved movies, particularly comedy: cheesy humor, dark humor, any movie that got a laugh out of an audience. Delimond enjoyed how they would take a normal, everyday situation, and make it comedic. And when he started playing around with his handheld camera, he realized he liked the process of creating content.

Next semester, Delimond will be taking screenwriting, editing, and production classes. He loves Quentin Tarantino, especially his early work, because he said that his directing style is evident in his movies. He hasn’t found his own style yet. But one day, he hopes audiences will also be able to tell a Delimond movie just by watching it.

For now, he’s walking and shooting the Miami landscape, dreaming up the stories he’ll tell one day.

How to help

To help this Wish Book nominee and the more than 100 other nominees who are in need this year:

▪ To donate, use the coupon found in the newspaper or pay securely online through www.MiamiHerald.com/wishbook

▪ For more information, call 305-376-2906 or emailWishbook@MiamiHerald.com

▪ The most requested items are often laptops and tablets for school, furniture, and accessible vans

▪ Read all Wish Book stories on www.MiamiHerald.com/wishbook