Darrell Wong / The Fresno Bee
Need Moua-Yang holds her niece, Christy Yang, 10, during a candlelight vigil in front of Christy's family's burned mobile home Wednesday evening. Christy's uncle Shee Yang and sisters Ai Yang and Pakou Yang died in the fire.
Shedding light on sorrow
Candles lit the way down a muddy country road to where family, friends and perfect strangers gathered to grieve and support the Yang family Wednesday night. :wavecry:
The charred skeleton of the mobile home where Shee Yang, 22, Ai Yang, 15, and Pakou Yang, 13, died Sunday night became a backdrop for flowers and a coming together of about 100 people that crossed lines of race, economics and neighborhoods. A vigil will take place from 6 to 9 p.m. every night until funerals begin Tuesday.
The Yang family is Hmong, and whenever a stranger who was obviously not Hmong joined the circle, Chong Yang — father of the two girls who died and brother of Shee — or another member of his family would approach the outsider, offering a hug and thanks for their presence.
Chong Yang's hand, arm and foot were heavily bandaged from the cuts he suffered while breaking windows to save his wife and seven of their children from the flames.
In quieter moments, the sound of crickets blended with soft weeping. Raw wails broke out sporadically from a group of teenage girls, schoolmates of Ai and Pakou Yang, who clung to one another.
Kao Yang, 25, the older brother of Shee, a senior at California State University, Fresno, approached the circle and crumpled as someone handed him a candle. A bevy of hands caught him.
"He was the most important person for me in my life," said Yang, who lives with their parents in Merced.
"We're the ones who were so close. I'd give him money, share my car, any support he needed. I told him, 'It's important to our whole family that you graduate.' We talked on the phone every night."
His mother, Blia Vue Vang, 60, put a hand on his arm. Yang stood straight and listened quietly as she spoke.
"I know you loved each other very much. You are a good older brother, and you are a good son," she told him in Hmong.
With her children and grandchildren translating, Blia Vue Vang told how her family had almost starved in Laos, with little to eat for days at a time, before making their way to the United States. She said her husband, Chongtou, has spent the past few months talking about how much it would mean to him to attend Shee Yang's college graduation in May.
Chongtou Yang, 68, walked the circle thanking people for coming before he stood still, holding a candle and weeping.
Vicky Cha, Shee Yang's girlfriend, added a teddy bear in a cap and gown to the memorial of flowers and candles.
"I came to say goodbye to my first love. To say, 'I love you and I miss you,'" she said.
David Rocha, 35, Kong Xiong, 24, and Fong Tho, 23 — all classmates of Yang's majoring in social work — somberly approached Blia Vue Vang, whom they had never met.
Xiong told her he had gone with Yang to get their caps and gowns. Yang was to be the first in his family to graduate from college.
Rocha said he had only seen his classmate Yang here and there and never had a real conversation with him until last month.
"He told me he wanted to graduate to make a better life for his family. I told him I wanted the same thing. We all want the same thing," Rocha said.
Chris Squire, who lives in a house less than a quarter of a mile from the trailer, stood quietly in the back, holding her candle.
She said her children go to Cedarwood Elementary School with some of the younger Yang children.
"I came out of respect for the family and to show that sometimes you have to bridge a gap," Squire said. "When we have a loss, it's a loss for the whole community. There's a time when everyone has to come together, and it doesn't matter from what background. The family is going to need support for a long time to come."
Wayne Yang, the husband of Paula Yang, the family's cousin who is organizing support efforts, said he had never seen the Hmong community come together publicly like this before.
"We usually even stay within our own clans. Stay private. But this is all different Hmong and so many teenagers. I think maybe it will build a bridge to show people how much the Hmong love one another, and in the future these young ones will remember there is an even bigger circle who cares."
Paula Yang said she has received contributions from all over the Central Valley to help the family rebuild.
"The calls came from Modesto and Merced and Reedley and Porterville and Fresno and Clovis. Every town. Every color. People who didn't have money offered food and clothes," she said.
The first call came at 7 a.m. after the news broke. A man offered to pay funeral expenses for all three victims, but through a representative so he could stay anonymous. "Can I at least get your name to write you a thank you card?" she asked him. But he told her, "No honey, this is just between me and your family and God."
