Very sad news today

The 20 year old son of my friends Hilda and Obdulio died this morning of Dengue hemorrhagic fever. He was in a hospital, but may have been misdiagnosed initially or had a secondary infection.

I work with Hilda and got to know her family when I first arrived here a year ago. My first project was to acquire t-shirt fabric for her at the center because she is the seamstress and she constructs all the children's pajamas. We drove around the "Garment District" looking for quality and good prices for big bolts of fabric. The garmento experience of my youth was of little help as the fabric was already fairly cheap and there was little room to negotiate.

I know their other children better than the boy who died. Their youngest son, Williams has a learning disability and is nearly blind. I went with them to several appointments with specialists and neurologists. He is in school now and doing fairly well. Unfortunately, their house was robbed last week when the Dad stepped out the a nearby store. They locked Williams in a bedroom and ransacked the place. And now they lose their oldest child who also has an 18 month old kid. So very sad...