A young woman who has spent years in Ottawa is one of the victims of the recent collapse of the nightclub roof in the Dominican Republic.
The jet set club in the capital Santo Domingo was packed for a performance on April 8th when the roof broke.
The cause of the collapse is still being examined, but the search for body has been completed and 221 people were killed.
One of those who died was 24-year-old Sheila Berroa, a Dominican citizen who had lived in Ottawa since 2018 when she switched to the family.
She finally studied shops at Algonquin College and recently headed a Planet Fitness location.
“She was very involved in her community in Ottawa, especially in her local church, voluntarily contacting the children, and contributed greatly to her friends and family,” said her brother Franclin Berroa in a message to CBC News.
He added that she was a loving aunt and that her loss was tragic.
“We are all very shocked (from) their loss, and these effects will be with all of us for the rest of our lives. She was lovely, friendly, a hard worker – every community and every person who has involved her with beloved Sheila.”
She didn’t want to return, says the long -term friend
Berroa tried to extend her work permit to be able to stay in Ottawa, but was denied at the beginning of this year and had to return to the Dominican Republic.
“(She was) a young person who had a bright life in front of him. She basically had to forced to take off Canada, literally a month before this tragedy,” said her brother.
The stress that she had to go led to the end of her four -year relationship with Saul Mendoza.
They had lost contact when she returned to the Dominican Republic in March. The day after the collapse, he said that he got the call from her brother that she had died.
He was still shocked when he spoke to CBC on Thursday on the way to her funeral in the Dominican.
“She had her whole life in front of her; she had so many hopes and dreams that she shared with me. She wanted her family, she wanted to be a mother, she wanted to be so many things for her life and her life, and it is difficult to accept; said Mendoza.
He said he was grateful for the time he had spent with Berroa and will taught her memories of her travels and how she taught him to dance.
“She was just magnetic,” said Mendoza
“I just fell in love with what she was, how she loved other people, as she looked after other people and took care of other people, how they focused on good things like good values that come from a good heart.”
The funeral will take place on Saturday.
