At the emergency shelter at War Memorial Gym in Wailuku, Alejandra Ramirez saw many Spanish speakers in need of translators.
The Wailuku resident said a group of Latinos, including Mexicans, Cubans and Argentinians, lost their homes to the wildfires in Lahaina.
Ramirez said she called their employers and landlords to get information while relaying it in Spanish.
Many immigrant families are in desperate need of recovering lost documents. Without them, they cannot get into housing or travel off-island. But language barriers and a lack of translators have posed challenges in getting basic information.
“It's sad because these people have both big and small problems,” Ramirez said.
Multilingual community members are stepping up in providing translations through social media.
When Ramirez posted on social media calling for translators last week, she received about 114 volunteers, speaking over a dozen languages, including American Sign Language.
She even created an Instagram account called Rootsrebornlahaina. It provides information on disaster assistance, housing and more. Posts are in English, Spanish and Illocano.
Ramirez said she hopes more posts will be translated into other languages.
“We need all the help we can get,” she said. “ We are a small island, but our immigrant population is huge. I grew up in Maui, and I had no idea we had so many Hispanics and Filipinos.”
Latinos comprise 11% of the state population, and they are the fastest growing population in Hawaiʻi, according to the 2020 census. In Lahaina, Latinos make up over 13% of the town's population.
“Lahaina is a small town, but it was full of immigrants,” she continued. “Immigrants basically took up a big chunk of that town because they worked in the food service industry and they worked in the hotels. So a lot of them lost their jobs, houses and their cars. “
Ramirez recently received a call from an Argentinian man who lost his home in Lahaina and needed money to fly to Los Angeles, California.
Applying for relief from the Federal Emergency Management Agency can be a daunting task for many immigrant families. Those who qualify must be U.S. citizens or can receive assistance through a family member that's a citizen.
Amelia Hoppe, an executive director of the Emergency Legal Responders, said FEMA information is not translated into the languages of the impacted population.
"So just to be really cognizant that there may be information that's coming out from FEMA or from other government agencies that haven't been translated into enough different ways," Hoppe told HPR.
The Argentine consular officials arrived last week to assist Argentinians with getting their birth certificates and passports. The Mexican consular officials have been on Maui for over week helping people get their documents.
So far, they have helped nearly 100 people and placed two families into homes, according to Cassie Yamashita of the Maui Economic Opportunity.
“When the first few individuals got their passports amongst the crowd, there was a huge cheer, and tears were flowing because there was a sense of normalcy,” she said.
Yamashita said she's working on getting the Mexican consular officials to stay for an additional week. She said the non-profit is working on getting Venezuelan consular officials to come to Maui.
An additional challenge is that undocumented immigrants fear deportation, so many won't seek help, Yamashita said.
She said there are several burn victims who won't seek help because of the lack of language assistance
"Without the availability of language providers in these remote areas, these populations aren't going to get the services or are going to be fearful to come forward," Yamashita said. "I know that opportunities for outreach on the west side is limited. I understand that there are some safety concerns, but the longer we wait to provide these services the longer these populations will be negatively affected."
Citlaly Ramirez, who is not related to Alejandra Ramirez, is helping others by translating information to family members from her church. Her family is staying at the War Memorial while she lives in Las Vegas.
“It's already hard enough for you to take in all that information,” she said. “And if English is your second language, then it's kind of just overwhelming in itself.”
She's helped with their insurance claims and set up their GoFundMe accounts. But there's only so much she can do from another state.
“Every family member I have told me not to come back,” she said. ”I would love to see my family as soon as I can. Right now, I'm somehow more useful out here in Vegas.”
HPR's Savannah Harriman-Pote contributed to this story.
