Kaʻū News Briefs Friday, Oct. 27, 2023

Ramona Okumura's neice Erika and her uncles Miles Okumura, of Honoka'a, and Glenn Okumura, of Pāhala, march in the Honoka'a Peace Parade with a banner urging, "Bring Auntie Ramona Home." Photo from the Okumura family

TRAPPED IN GAZA, RAMONA OKUMURA, SISTER OF GLENN OKUMURA, OF PĀHALA, is receiving much support from the local community on this island and beyond. Glenn, family and friends marched in the Honoka'a Peace Parade last weekend with a banner urging "'Bring Auntie Ramona Home."        Glenn, an active member of O Kaʻū Kakou and Pahala Hongwanji, joined his brother, Miles, who is chair of the Honoka'a Peace Parade, sponsored by Honoka'a Hongwanji.
   Glenn said his sister, 71, has spent much time in Kaʻū, their mother living her last days in Pāhala, and Glenn has owned a home here for almost 30 years. He said that Ramona has always come to get away and enjoy the quiet Kaʻū, friends and family.
    More recently, Ramona Okumura has also spent time each year in Gaza, where she is a volunteer, helping to make prosthetics, simply and affordably to replace the personal damage of accidents, and violence. Since 2017, Okumura has volunteered for the USA-based Palestine Children’s Relief Fund’s Gaza Amputee Project, following a 27-year career in prosthetics at University of Washington where she also served as a lecturer in prosthetics.
   Her brother Glenn said on Friday that she remains trapped in Gaza at a UN shelter near the Rafah border crossing to Egypt. Glenn and his son Michael Okumoto, text her from Hawai'i to keep her up to date on weather reports for Gaza to help her keep track of potential rainfall, since she and other evacuees are sleeping outside.

Ramona Okumura, sister of Glenn Okumura, of Pahala, helps make affordable prosthetics for Palestinian young people who lost limbs to violence. Photo from Palestinian Children's Relief Fund Gaza Amputee Project

    Ramona Okumura and colleague, Dr. Barbara Zind, became trapped in Gaza when the war broke out between Israel and Hamas.
    Okumura family members have flown to Washington D.C. and met with Hawai'i Senators Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz. as well as Congresswoman Jill Tokuda. Fifty-six members of Congress signed a statement saying, "we urge those carrying out military operations to follow international humanitarian law and protect innocent civilian lives on both sides." Thirty-six U.S. Senators signed a statement calling for "the swift implementation of sustained access for humanitarian aid, including water and medical supplies, to save civilian lives in Gaza.”
    A statement from the Okumura family says that "American aid worker Ramona Okumura continues to be trapped in Gaza along with 45 other aid workers, an estimated 500-600 Americans, and countless civilians who have been unable to escape the violence and increased pressure at the Rafah border to Egypt."
    The Okumura family is not only pressing for their Auntie's release but also for relief to Gaza people. On Capitol Hill, Ramona Okumura's neice Leah Okumura and nephew Nicholas Pang joined founder of Palestinian Children's Relief Fund, Steve Sosebee. They presented a plea for a "ceasefire and humanitarian corridor for safe passage out of Gaza with military support if needed, and also to allow this border opening to deliver aid into Gaza to service civilians she has seen fleeing their homes that have been lost to bombings."
    The Okumura family statement says, "Evacuees like Ramona are increasingly in danger as fuel, food, and water supplies decline, and they report hearing rockets fire within five miles of their location. Aid groups have warned of a looming humanitarian catastrophe due to Israel’s invasion into Gaza." It says that her family has repeatedly been disappointed by failed attempts at opening the Rafah border to Egypt, with Hamas, Egyptian and Israeli authorities unable to come to terms.

    The family statement shares Ramona's messages by text when she has service. "Ramona herself has spoken movingly of how local drivers have risked their lives to shuttle them between compounds, while rockets are fired around them, without any cover." Ramona said, “Despite everything, the locals risk their lives to meet our needs at every step of the way.”
    She has also reported that she and her colleagues are currently safe at a U.N. shelter. Many, including Ramona, sleep outside in cars, or on the pavement outside, and many evacuees have pulled debris such as pallets and metal poles to create temporary camp structures. The family statement says, "Despite being in imminent danger, Ramona remains stalwart in her mission to help the citizens of Gaza and Okumura’s family is holding out hope that she will be able to escape, despite no concrete updates about the border situation changing."