Marine One flies over the collapsed I-35W bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota. President George W. Bush Saturday toured the highway bridge that crumbled into the Mississippi River and officials scrambled to inspect other spans to reassure the public that the country's bridges are safe.(AFP/Mandel Ngan) Universal sorrow
The victims of the bridge disaster cover the diverse cultural, religious and economic spectrum of the Twin Cities. Although their loved ones' grieving rituals are varied, the sadness is the same.
08/11/2007
BY LAURA YUEN
Pioneer Press
TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press (Minneapolis-St Paul, Minnesota, USA)
The monks have been called. The food agreed on. Those who knew and loved Vera Peck and her son, Richard Chit, began this week planning a memorial service for the two - even though their bodies haven't been found.
Within seven days of a death, Buddhist custom dictates that the departed receive a proper blessing so their spirits may peacefully enter the next life. With prayers and memories, mourners will gather today to honor the Roseville mother and son who they presume died in the Interstate 35W bridge collapse.
"You're gone now, and you're going to start a new life," said family friend Chantha Eckman, explaining through tears the meaning of the service.
Victims of the Aug. 1 disaster make up a tiny fraction of the 141,000 drivers who passed over one of Minnesota's busiest bridges every day. Nevertheless, they represent the diverse spectrum of the Twin Cities.
United by a few tragic seconds, they spanned culture, faith and class. Now, the communities those people left behind express the diverse ways they mourn.
Anthropologists have written books about grieving across cultures. Jews practice a sitting shiva, a seven-day period after the funeral in which the mourning family returns home and receives visitors.
In Taiwan, families hire professional mourners to wail in funeral processions. Such public displays, the thinking goes, can cast the impression that the deceased were well-loved and improve their chances of getting into heaven.
But no matter the differences in mourning rituals, the pain when losing someone is universal.
In the days following the bridge disaster, social worker Alan Brankline noticed the mix of cultures and faiths represented by the victims' families at the American Red Cross family assistance center.
"But the grief was the same," said Brankline, a Red Cross disaster mental-health specialist.
"In my mind, there was little difference between someone who had a Christian or an Orthodox or a Muslim faith," he said. "The grief is still there, and people experience grief in their own unique ways."
A person's reaction to death had more to do with his or her previous experiences with adversity, said Brankline, who manages medical social services at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester.
Many were outraged, he added. After all, it wasn't a tornado or a hurricane that snuffed out lives, but a man-made disaster.
"The thing I was hearing was, 'This shouldn't be happening,' " he said. "Some were able to handle it and cope, and some were not able to even go there."
For the Somali refugee community mourning the loss of Sadiya Sahal, 23, and her infant daughter, Hana, the grief is tempered by the fact that Somalis have buried many of their dead in their homeland, said one community leader.
After the bridge disaster, people paid visits to Sahal's family to extend their condolences. Mohamed Hassan, a spokesman for the Somali Institute of Peace and Justice, said the outpouring of support must come as a relief.
"Remember what they have been through before," Hassan said. "They've been through a tragedy created by other human beings, where they were given no empathy."
The bodies of 22-month-old Hana and her mother, a nursing assistant student and graduate of Washburn High School in Minneapolis, were recovered late this week.
It is important for Sadiya Sahal's family to honor her with a respectful burial, local imams said. Typically, an imam washes the deceased, wraps the body in a white shroud and places it in a simple coffin.
"If the body is found, people know it happened. We say it's from God," said Abdirahman Hirsi, imam of the Darul Quba Mosque in Minneapolis.
Muslim leaders in the Twin Cities held a prayer service for Sahal and her daughter, along with the other victims and missing people, Friday at the Brian Coyle Community Center in Minneapolis.
"The memorial plans cannot be made yet, but we can (bring) goodwill, sympathy and soul," said organizer and imam Abdisalam Adam of the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Civic Center.
As of midweek, the family of Christine Sacorafas had not approached her pastor about a funeral. The 45-year-old White Bear Lake woman never made it to her church, where she was headed to teach a Greek dance class, on the evening the bridge collapsed.
"It's on everybody's minds, but we haven't gotten quite that far yet," said the Rev. Paul Paris of St. Mary's Greek Orthodox Church in Minneapolis. "We all have an understanding that she's gone, but, at the same time, we're waiting for her to be found. That would help to bring closure to the situation."
The state of limbo also has been hard on the family of Scott Sathers. The Maple Grove man was going to turn 30 last weekend, and his wife had planned a surprise birthday party with co-workers at a Twins game, said his uncle, Dick Sathers, of Bemidji, Minn.
Now, life has been put on hold.
"It's a sitting, waiting game," Sathers said. Scott's parents "want to have their son back, but who knows when," he said.
Sherry Engebretsen's Shoreview home teemed with family and friends in the days after her disappearance. The Lutheran family drew strength from their faith as well as from a full house of loved ones offering comfort and laughter.
Today, loved ones will pour into the Bloomington home of Richard Chit's father. Vera Peck's girlfriends will prepare dishes from her native Cambodia, including one of her specialties: steamed fish with coconut and vegetables.
If her relatives fail to send her off, her spirit might still hover around and lose its chance of being reborn, said her friend Eckman.
"This is just to send her spirit away and say, 'Go. Don't hang around. Just leave us, and start a new life.' "
Laura Yuen can be reached at lyuen@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5498.
Sadiya Sahal
Sadiya Sahal, of St. Paul, is the latest victim to be recovered from the site of the I-35W bridge collapse. She was a nursing student and five months pregnant. She moved from Somalia to the United States in 2000 and graduated from Washburn High School in Minneapolis.
Her husband is devastated by the loss of his family, according to family friends.
08/11/2007
BY LAURA YUEN
Pioneer Press
TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press (Minneapolis-St Paul, Minnesota, USA)
The monks have been called. The food agreed on. Those who knew and loved Vera Peck and her son, Richard Chit, began this week planning a memorial service for the two - even though their bodies haven't been found.
Within seven days of a death, Buddhist custom dictates that the departed receive a proper blessing so their spirits may peacefully enter the next life. With prayers and memories, mourners will gather today to honor the Roseville mother and son who they presume died in the Interstate 35W bridge collapse.
"You're gone now, and you're going to start a new life," said family friend Chantha Eckman, explaining through tears the meaning of the service.
Victims of the Aug. 1 disaster make up a tiny fraction of the 141,000 drivers who passed over one of Minnesota's busiest bridges every day. Nevertheless, they represent the diverse spectrum of the Twin Cities.
United by a few tragic seconds, they spanned culture, faith and class. Now, the communities those people left behind express the diverse ways they mourn.
Anthropologists have written books about grieving across cultures. Jews practice a sitting shiva, a seven-day period after the funeral in which the mourning family returns home and receives visitors.
In Taiwan, families hire professional mourners to wail in funeral processions. Such public displays, the thinking goes, can cast the impression that the deceased were well-loved and improve their chances of getting into heaven.
But no matter the differences in mourning rituals, the pain when losing someone is universal.
In the days following the bridge disaster, social worker Alan Brankline noticed the mix of cultures and faiths represented by the victims' families at the American Red Cross family assistance center.
"But the grief was the same," said Brankline, a Red Cross disaster mental-health specialist.
"In my mind, there was little difference between someone who had a Christian or an Orthodox or a Muslim faith," he said. "The grief is still there, and people experience grief in their own unique ways."
A person's reaction to death had more to do with his or her previous experiences with adversity, said Brankline, who manages medical social services at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester.
Many were outraged, he added. After all, it wasn't a tornado or a hurricane that snuffed out lives, but a man-made disaster.
"The thing I was hearing was, 'This shouldn't be happening,' " he said. "Some were able to handle it and cope, and some were not able to even go there."
For the Somali refugee community mourning the loss of Sadiya Sahal, 23, and her infant daughter, Hana, the grief is tempered by the fact that Somalis have buried many of their dead in their homeland, said one community leader.
After the bridge disaster, people paid visits to Sahal's family to extend their condolences. Mohamed Hassan, a spokesman for the Somali Institute of Peace and Justice, said the outpouring of support must come as a relief.
"Remember what they have been through before," Hassan said. "They've been through a tragedy created by other human beings, where they were given no empathy."
The bodies of 22-month-old Hana and her mother, a nursing assistant student and graduate of Washburn High School in Minneapolis, were recovered late this week.
It is important for Sadiya Sahal's family to honor her with a respectful burial, local imams said. Typically, an imam washes the deceased, wraps the body in a white shroud and places it in a simple coffin.
"If the body is found, people know it happened. We say it's from God," said Abdirahman Hirsi, imam of the Darul Quba Mosque in Minneapolis.
Muslim leaders in the Twin Cities held a prayer service for Sahal and her daughter, along with the other victims and missing people, Friday at the Brian Coyle Community Center in Minneapolis.
"The memorial plans cannot be made yet, but we can (bring) goodwill, sympathy and soul," said organizer and imam Abdisalam Adam of the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Civic Center.
As of midweek, the family of Christine Sacorafas had not approached her pastor about a funeral. The 45-year-old White Bear Lake woman never made it to her church, where she was headed to teach a Greek dance class, on the evening the bridge collapsed.
"It's on everybody's minds, but we haven't gotten quite that far yet," said the Rev. Paul Paris of St. Mary's Greek Orthodox Church in Minneapolis. "We all have an understanding that she's gone, but, at the same time, we're waiting for her to be found. That would help to bring closure to the situation."
The state of limbo also has been hard on the family of Scott Sathers. The Maple Grove man was going to turn 30 last weekend, and his wife had planned a surprise birthday party with co-workers at a Twins game, said his uncle, Dick Sathers, of Bemidji, Minn.
Now, life has been put on hold.
"It's a sitting, waiting game," Sathers said. Scott's parents "want to have their son back, but who knows when," he said.
Sherry Engebretsen's Shoreview home teemed with family and friends in the days after her disappearance. The Lutheran family drew strength from their faith as well as from a full house of loved ones offering comfort and laughter.
Today, loved ones will pour into the Bloomington home of Richard Chit's father. Vera Peck's girlfriends will prepare dishes from her native Cambodia, including one of her specialties: steamed fish with coconut and vegetables.
If her relatives fail to send her off, her spirit might still hover around and lose its chance of being reborn, said her friend Eckman.
"This is just to send her spirit away and say, 'Go. Don't hang around. Just leave us, and start a new life.' "
Laura Yuen can be reached at lyuen@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5498.
Sadiya Sahal
Sadiya Sahal, of St. Paul, is the latest victim to be recovered from the site of the I-35W bridge collapse. She was a nursing student and five months pregnant. She moved from Somalia to the United States in 2000 and graduated from Washburn High School in Minneapolis.
Her husband is devastated by the loss of his family, according to family friends.
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