WEST HILLS — In a prayer vigil that was partly translated in Mandarin, more than 200 community members gathered at West Valley Christian Church Thursday night to pay their respects and honor two Chinese school girls killed in last Saturday's Asiana Flight 214 airline crash at San Francisco airport.
The two 16-year-old girls, Ye Meng Yuan and Wang
Linjia, who were killed as a result of the crash landing were among
about 35 students scheduled to attend a 3-week academic summer camp
based at the church's school. The camp, which was scheduled to start
last Monday and was planned by another organization, was cancelled in
light of the tragic accident. Eliu Elisara, elder chairman of the church
and the school, told attendees that although they had not yet met the
students, the more he hears about the two girls who were killed, the
more they "feel like they live down the street."
Meng Yuan was a musician, liked to dance, and was DJ
at her school's radio station. Linjia was an artist, proficient in table
tennis and was the Valedictorian and president of her class.
"Their stories are our stories, their accomplishments
are our accomplishments, their tragedy is our tragedy," Elisara said.
"We are one community, because we live in God's neighborhood, and God's
neighborhood is huge."
The service was live-streamed so that grieving
families in China and elsewhere could view the program. The
Community/Chinese Christian Alliance Church sang "Amazing Grace" in
Mandarin while church member Bobbie Candler-Buyalos sang "I Can Only
Imagine" while her two daughters interpreted in sign language.
On stage, were two empty school desks with two bouquets
of flowers on them. In front of the stage, were three large wreaths of
flowers -- two whites ones representing the slain girls, and one red one
representing "the great nation of China," said school administrator
Derek Swales.
The 35 Chinese students, who were in high school and
possibly middle school, were scheduled to study English and likely
American culture while sight-seeing and visiting premiere colleges in
the area, Swales has said. The students were scheduled to stay with host
families in the area organized by a third party.
Deidre Bowen of West Hills attended the vigil with her
mother Priscilla Stabler and her three daughters, one of whom just
graduated from the school and the other who still attends the school.
Bowen said while they could not host a student this time, one of her
daughters was very much looking forward to meeting the students at the
school -- something they never got to do.
"It's hard when you can't reach out to the families
directly so this is our way of letting them we know we love them and we
would have looked after their kids," Bowen said, as tears streamed down
her face. "We just pray that something good comes out of it, We've just
learned to love more and appreciate more and at anytime, things can
change."