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Ronza Ishkokani’s parents, brother, sister and extended family are in Gaza and she has no idea if they’re still alive.
AURORA, Colo. — Each day, Ronza Ishkokani looks for ways to keep herself from worrying. As a mother of five, she does pretty well at staying preoccupied.
Still, even surrounded by her family in front of her, her mind drifts to her family a world away.
“Having family in Gaza,” Ishkokani began. “Thinking about them not being able to sleep, not being able to do my daily life like I used to be able to do before the war.”
Ishkokani moved to the United States from Gaza in 2011. Most of her family stayed in the Middle East, including her mother, father, brother and sister. Her sister also has four children, living with her in Gaza.
Today, they’re just a few of the many caught in chaos.
“1.7 million have been suffering the war,” Ishkokani said. “Starving, not being able to have basic needs like water, food, medication. One of them is my dad. He has multiple health issues like heart issues, diabetes, hypertension. He needs rest, he needs water. He needs his medication.”
The ultimate need: safety.
Ishkokani is working to find a way to help her family escape from Gaza.
“It doesn’t matter where they choose to go,” Ishkokani said. “Just to stay safe, just to survive.”
Ishkokani said she’s even fallen ill, seeing the level of destruction people in Gaza are living through. She’s leaned on friends in Colorado to keep her spirits up and focus off of devastation.
“I’m thinking a lot about them,” Ishkokani said. “I can’t sleep.”
Ishkokani knows from her experience leaving the Gaza strip more than a decade ago that it is an endeavor that comes at a physical burden and tremendous financial cost.
“I had to wait more than three days,” Ishkokani recalled. “I had my visa, I had my airplane ticket and they know that I can’t miss my airplane. They still ask bribe from me. $3,000 otherwise I can’t go out. I had to pay them. That’s how I got out.”
Ishkokani explained she had to pay people at the Egyptian border in order to leave. She said it’s the same case for each of her family members in Gaza now.
Except, today, their escape is allegedly $7,000 to $8,000 per person.
“My family can’t afford it because they lost their job because of the war,” Ishkokani said. “I can’t afford it. It’s too crazy amount of money. I’m not sure the Egyptian government knows what’s happening at the Egyptian border.”
Ishkokani said she hasn’t spoken to her parents or brother in more than a month. It’s been even longer since she had communication with her sister. She said she hasn’t heard from her since October.
She said she’s used to speaking to them every day. The lack of communication and certainty leads her to consider the worst.
“I can’t hear anything back from my family, especially from my sister,” Ishkokani said. “I’m just thinking OK she’s alive, I don’t want to believe something happened to them, but sometimes I have to put this idea in my brain that maybe she’s not alive anymore. Maybe her kids are not alive anymore. Because like if something happened, I can’t take it maybe. That’s what I’m trying to train myself.”
If she can’t help her family get out, she said she hopes the war comes to an end soon, for her family and all the people of the region.
“More than 80 days, actually, they have been suffering,” Ishkokani said. “I’m hoping for them to be able to have a good life like other people in the world.”
In the meantime, she’s relying on her faith to keep her loved ones alive.
“I’m trying to have hope even when sometimes it seems like there’s no hope,” Ishkokani said.
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