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PEOPLE in the North East now have the opportunity to express their grief for the missing passengers from Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.
Beryl Klemm has established a condolence corner in Wangaratta’s Merriwa Park for the community to lay flowers and give prayer and she hopes other cities will also create opportunities for people to express grief.
“My dream is for everybody to take up the idea so relatives of people on the flight can see the many tributes,” she said.
Almost 10 community members, including former member for Indi Sophie Mirabella, bowed their heads yesterday as they prayed for suffering families and missing passengers.
They could only hear the songs from birds as the sun glittered off a circle of thoughtfully placed tinsel and garden flowers.
Mrs Mirabella commended Mrs Klemm’s initiative.
“I, like a lot of people in Wangaratta, am touched and shocked by what happened,” she said.
“As a mother I think of the children who were on the flight.”
Mrs Mirabella said the condolence corner gave people the opportunity to show their empathy to families who were suffering.
“As human beings we need to do something to express these emotions,” she said.
“Beryl has provided us with an opportunity to do that.”
Mrs Klemm created the idea with her sister after seeing television footage of a distressed Chinese lady.
“I just wanted to console her and I thought a community spot where we could lay flowers would be a way of doing something and a way of expressing grief,” she said.
Although they did not know any passengers on the missing flight, Mrs Klemm said she suspected people were touched by the tragedy.
“Anybody in the world has grief for these people, we are a human race,” she said.
Mrs Klemm invited anybody to visit the park and pay their respects.
“People can feel like they’ve done something and won’t feel so helpless,” Mrs Klemm said.
“People have disappeared, we don’t know if they’re alive or not and six Australians were on board. Anybody could have been on there.”
Wangaratta community member Allan Wilson said they were all there because they were mothers, fathers, sons and daughters.
“That plane was full of people who were those things as well,” he said.
“As we gather round I want us to think of the passengers and know that wherever they are God is taking care of them.”