The fear and worry engendered by the rapid Taliban takeover in Afghanistan is evident on the faces of those who fled the country in recent years.
When they gathered in Galway this afternoon, several Afghan asylum seekers spoke of sleepless nights and round-the-clock efforts to contact their loved ones in recent days.
They say communication links have been compromised and they are concerned that the Taliban is monitoring internet and mobile phone traffic.
Today's hastily organised outdoor gathering was preceded by video calls with the 200 or so Afghans living in Direct Provision in other parts of the country.
From them all, a united plea to the Irish Government to expedite the processing of their asylum applications and to provide humanitarian visas to assist the repatriation of family members.
There was also sharp criticism of the international community over a failure to act to protect their homeland.
Matin Meragudin says the whole world knows what the Taliban is about but that people are just watching its march to power without intervening.
"We are watching our brothers and sisters live in panic ... the whole world should feel ashamed," he said.
"The international community is sleeping and these [the Taliban] are like a snake. When they wake up, they will bite the whole world".
Those sentiments were echoed by Mohammad Shafiq who said the Taliban was deceiving the world to try and get legitimacy.
But he is in no doubt that when the returning regime has a firm grip on power, it will exact revenge on those who worked against it over the last two decades. Now "they can do everything," he says.
For Khalid Ahmadzay, the last three days have been filled with worry about his family and, in particular, his ten-year-old son.
While he would normally be able to maintain contact with loved ones in Afghanistan, that has not been possible since the weekend.
The broken link with home has left him drawn and fearful. "There is great danger ... even when I give [an] interview now, my family is in great danger ... I don't know what’s happened there".
Some have been able to get some insight into what is happening to their relatives.
Akhdar Maseri, who has refugee status here, says his brother fled to Pakistan via an illegal border crossing.
From there, he has been able to make contact with the Irish Consul in the hope that he can secure a visa to travel here.
Mr Maseri says the fate of other family members is less clear. And he is concerned that even talking out against the Taliban at this remove could put their lives in jeopardy.
Janet Kehelly, from the Croí na Gaillimhe Resource Centre, works with the Afghan community in Galway.
She has urged the Government to do the "one thing we can do right now to make things a little bit easier" for the people who gathered to discuss the situation in Afghanistan today.
"At the minute they’re watching all the same headlines, watching all the same videos that we’re watching, but it’s their families that we’re actually talking about.
"Some of these guys are here up to five years waiting for an interview. I think the Department of Justice could really expedite that process," she said.
