We hope that your June is off to a good and healthy start. We are writing with this week’s update for host families of the less than 70 AFS students still hosted in the US.

Please note: While all US states have begun lifting some of the restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, please continue to follow CDC as well as State and local Health Department guidelines. In some cases, we have received information about return travel charter flights with only 24-48 hours’ notice and some of these flights include a fit to fly requirement that requires a virtual or in person visit with a medical professional. As such, please remain in or near your community, if at all possible, rather than travelling to a location that may make it impossible for you to make the charter flight, should one become available for your student. If you cannot avoid traveling outside of the general region where you live, please inform your AFS Volunteers or support staff in case we need to reach you urgently for any new repatriation opportunities that may come up.

In the event that your AFS student is informed of a return travel possibility before we have notified you, please contact our Travel staff at tlogistics@afsusa.org.

Below, please find this week’s return travel update for students who are still hosted in the US.

Brazil – Last student remaining has an international flight scheduled for June 6.

China –The Chinese government is continuing to contact some students directly about possible return flights, which could be within the next week. If your student receives one of these messages, please ask them to make sure that their family in China is working with AFS in China in order to move the plans forward. AFS-China will contact AFS-USA as return international flights are confirmed. Please also share this information with AFS travel staff at tlogistics@afsusa.org.

Colombia – To be determined.

Denmark – student is recovering from a scheduled surgery and will return when medically recommended to do so.

Guatemala – To be determined.

Hungary – One student remains and partner staff is working with natural family to determine next steps.

India – To be determined.

Italy – Last remaining student has an international flight scheduled for July 1.

Peru – To be determined.

The following FLEX and YES Sponsored Programs cohorts have planned upcoming travel:

YES:

YES Cameroon (CRN): departing domestically June 3, internationally June 4
YES Ghana (GHA): departing domestically June 3, internationally June 4
YES Mozambique (MOZ): departing domestically June 10, internationally June 11
YES Philippines (PHI): departing domestically on June 18 or 19, internationally June 19

FLEX:

FLEX Romania (RMF): departing domestically June 5, internationally June 6
FLEX Azerbaijan (AZE): departing domestically on June 8 or 9,  internationally June 9

For the following countries, ECA, AFS, and American Councils continue to seek opportunities for repatriation, and the YES and FLEX Teams at AFS-USA will continue to be in contact directly with host families and students with any additional updates.

FLEX: Mongolia (MNF), Turkmenistan (TUK), Ukraine (UKR)
YES: India (IND), Liberia (LBI), Libya (LBY), Morocco (MOR), Senegal (SNL), Sierra Leone (SRE), Tanzania (TNZ)

The Kenyan students traveled home after completing their quarantine in Nairobi. The picture below shows the students before departing the hotel. YES Alumni and natural families were waiting to greet returning students in Lamu.

The four Philippine students, who returned last week, remain in quarantine. As domestic flights resume, students will return to their home communities once they complete their quarantine instead of remaining with family in Manila.