Help bring families home from West Africa amid a global pandemic
This project is fully funded. Thank you!
Your Impact
With the help of our donors, Spirit of America provided $30,000 in airfare to repatriate US citizens from West Africa to America at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This project is fully funded. THANK YOU!
As COVID-19 grew into a global pandemic this spring, governments across Africa raced to stop the spread of the virus by shutting down airports and land borders. Coronavirus cases in Mali and Burkina Faso are rising, with the potential to quickly overwhelm their hospitals and fragile health care systems. In the midst of this, American citizens and residents have had a difficult time returning safely to the United States, including those with elevated health risks.
During the pandemic, the U.S. Embassy in Bamako has repatriated hundreds of Americans in the last two months. The U.S. Department of State has coordinated the repatriation of 92,738 Americans on 976 flights from 135 countries and territories.
The U.S. Embassy in Bamako, Mali, identified opportunities to fly back many of these citizens and permanent residents from Mali and Burkina Faso. So far the embassy has chartered two planes but has been unable to fully fund the remaining flight due to legal constraints on federal funding of repatriation loans. Without funding for all seats, the entire flight will be canceled, leaving nearly 200 people without a way to get home – and the embassy predicts commercial flights from the Sahel to the U.S. won’t reopen for at least two more months.
With your support, Spirit of America will secure the remaining seats on the flight coordinated by U.S. Embassy Bamako, allowing nearly 200 U.S. citizens and residents to safely return to the United States.
