As fighting continued in Khartoum today, Thoiba Ahmed was relieved to be able to make contact with her family in Sudan.
Internet, like electricity and water, is a privilege there now, she says.
15 members of Thoiba's family - including her mother, two sisters and her brother - have had to move twice to try to find places of relative safety to live in.
Now they all live together in two rooms but the fighting is never far away and the impact of war is ever present.
While we visit, Thoiba gets through to her family and chats to her brother-in-law who tells her that it is particularly difficult for the children as they live - often in darkness - with no electricity, little water or food.
They are particularly concerned about medical services as it is very hard to get to see a doctor, he tells her, and many of the hospitals are out of bounds, having been taken over, bombarded or evacuated.
Thoiba Ahmed has lived in Letterkenny for eight years and is very involved in activism, including being a member of Amnesty International and the Donegal Intercultural Platform.
She ran in the last local elections and plans to do so again.
The situation in Sudan is complex, she said, but the international community has not done enough and has not been listening to the Sudanese people who have been calling for action for a number of years.
Today six trucks carrying aid were looted and Thoiba is particularly concerned that humanitarian aid is not getting through to people who are suffering there.
She asks why vehicles evacuating foreigners in the country could not bring aid into the country when they go there?
The situation in Sudan is a total mess, she said, and getting safe passage out is a matter of luck.
For her family, it is something that requires serious thought, but she said it is not straightforward because there are many documents required which they cannot get at the moment, including passports for the children.
The situation is hugely stressful for all involved, including Thoiba and her family in Donegal.
She has nightmares, she says, and is constantly thinking of and worrying about her family and feels totally helpless.
She is especially worried about her mother who is in her late 60s and has been ill recently.
Before she calls them she says she worries what today's news will be.
Afterwards she feels relief that they are ok but it does not last, she says, as you cannot disconnect yourself from the uncertainty, the worry, fear and devastation.
Through her involvement in various organisations in Letterkenny, Thoiba is hoping that she can help start something that will help get aid to Sudan.
She says through working locally in supporting Ukrainian refugees she is very hopeful that the local support will be there.
Thoiba says that perhaps if local communities start playing a role, this will get the powers that be to listen.
