Sad day in San Ramon

Dona Roberta is around 38 yrs old, has 2 girls and 2 sons. They have a nice house, and all the kids go to school. Generally, the family’s doing well and has money to make sure George (Jorge Luis), their youngest, has nice clothes and a bike. The simple fact that all their girls still go to school is a good sign of how things are in the family as well.

About 8 or 9 months ago, Dona Roberta came to the health post and asked for a pregnancy test. It came out positive. She’s a friend of Adilia’s and even brought her oldest daughter along with her to sign up for my health promoter course.

This past week, Dona Roberta gave birth to a baby boy. Two days later, he died. George came to my house the next day to let me know about the death of his baby brother. He said he heard the spirits come in the house – a bird and another animal (he didn’t know the word for it in Spanish, only K’iche) that are known for announcing death. He was so scared he didn’t get out of bed to let his mom know they were coming. Dona Roberta, her husband, and the baby were sleeping when the spirits came. His nose was bleeding when she woke up. They have a car so they took the baby to the hospital. He was dead upon arrival at the hospital.

I don’t know what’s the saddest part – that Dona Roberta never understood what the doctor was trying to explain about what happened to the child or that this is the 3rd baby she’s lost.

Dona Roberta has been in a lot of pain, emotional and physical, for a long time. She’s been receiving injections for the cysts on her ovaries, and seems to be walking around more and moving more each day. I’ve only been to visit her 3 or 4 times, but every time she feeds me then lets me know how much she cares for me and how much she’ll miss me when I’m gone. She is a light in my life here in San Ramón and I will be deeply sorry to leave her when the time comes.