The 26-year-old goes to graduate school in the United States, but she was born and raised in Tigray, the northernmost region of Ethiopia, where a deadly conflict broke out last month between federal troops and rebellious regional forces. While a communications blackout, though now partially restored, has made it difficult for journalists and humanitarian actors to obtain or verify information, it’s also prevented people from getting in touch with loved ones.

“I don’t know what’s happening to them. They might be dead or they might be alive,” Gidey recently told ABC News in a remote interview. “But to be quite honest, I’m not just worried only about my family at this point. I don’t think any Tigrayan is only worried about their immediate family members. We’re worried about our collective existence.”