June 01/2007 06:27:10 AM MDT
Mulu Gebrelassiei, center, grieves the loss of her children in the basement of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church on Thursday. (The Post / Karl Gehring)
Already steeped in anguish over the daughter who drowned Monday trying to save her brother, parents Gezaee Kahsay and Mulu Gebrelassiei made the decision Thursday to remove their son from life support.
For several days, they prayed that a miracle might befall 10-year-old Yacob Gezaee, who has been comatose since paramedics pulled him and his sister Bethlehem, 16, from a pool at the Raintree East townhome complex.
His parents' hopes evaporated Thursday, when doctors at Presbyterian/St. Luke's Medical Center told them Yacob's organs were failing.
"Did I bring my children here only for them to die, God?" Gebrelassiei wailed in Amharic, as Teklu Abraha translated her words.
"Why did this not happen in my home country? Who is going to hug me? Who is going to kiss me? Oh, my God! Why do you punish me this way?"
With their heads and torsos shrouded in veils, women literally wrapped themselves around the disconsolate mother as she grieved in the basement chapel of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church near downtown Denver.
Since the discovery of their children's bodies, Kahsay and Gebrelassiei have ensconced themselves at the church. Gebrelassiei sits, and sometimes fitfully sleeps, on an improvised nest made of mattresses, pillows and quilts.
The bed faces a dozen or so pews peppered with mourners.
Some are relatives - members of the family's tribe in Ethiopia, and fellow members of this church that defines their lives. Others do not know the family but come to show their support and grief.
"At a time like this, all of Ethiopia's tribes are connected, those who speak Amharic and those who speak the Tigrigna language," said Laake Ghebre, a family friend.
"At such times as this, all Ethiopians make themselves close as a family."
Women emerged periodically from the church kitchen, bearing trays that held pots of strong Ethiopian coffee, rolls of the Ethiopian flat bread injera, cans of soda and bottles of water.
When Gebrelassiei bursts into new laments - "God, take me in! I will replace my son! I will replace my daughter! Why do I work day in and day out to make a better condition for my family, only to lose them? Why do you punish me?" - the women cosset her like an infant.
"They tell her, 'God will not do as we tell him, but we must do as he tells us,"' Ghebre translated, but acknowledged that this "double tragedy" tries his own deep faith.
"The father, he worked hard. He did the best he can. He worked an average of 18 hours a day to bring his children here. And not a whole year were they here before this tragedy happened."
Donations Sought
A funeral for Bethlehem, left, and Yacob Gezaee is scheduled for 10 a.m. Sunday at the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, 574 Pennsylvania St.
The family hopes to return the children's bodies to Ethiopia for burial. Donations for those expenses may be sent to the Yacob and Bethlehem Gezaee Memorial Fund at any U.S. Bank.
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