u/amanita336

Hello! I am an ETA 26-27 finalist for Sub-Saharan Africa. My country has malaria risks in some parts, but not all, of the country, and I'm yet to hear what city/school I'll be placed at, so I don't yet know if I'll be in a place where I will need malaria prevention medication. I wanted to go ahead and do my medical form, which I did earlier this week, but now I'm wondering if I should have waited to do it.

I do not take any regular medications/have any medical concerns myself, but obviously, if I'm in an area with malaria, I will need the medicine. I wrote in the medical form that I do not require any medications currently, and I have no plans to meet with a medical professional regularly while in my country, but if I am placed somewhere with malaria, I will update my form with a plan to start medication in the U.S. and a plan to obtain medication once in country.

Of course, this means I do not currently have a plan to receive malaria meds should I need them, since I don't know where I'll be in the country. Does anyone who went to a malaria prone area have experience with this? I imagine it's something they must be aware of, and it's a common enough and needed drug, I do not think they would place me somewhere where it would be very difficult to get. But, I'm afraid my form saying "I don't yet have a plan for malaria medication because I'm not yet sure if I need it" might not be acceptable. My doctor signed off yes on me going, though.

Hello, I'm a U.S. American teacher with no ties to Afghanistan, but I teach in a high refugee area, and a lot of my students are from Afghanistan. One of my students has been absent all week, and our Pashto translator reached out to me to let me know that the student's family had decided to travel back to Afghanistan to visit family. My face probably looked a bit stunned, and the translator agreed with me, saying they urged the family not to go back and that, especially with this administration, they probably won't get back into the U.S. Of course, they went anyway.

My question is... is this a somewhat common thing? Even before this administration, I wouldn't imagine Afghans who received refugee status in the U.S. would travel back, for any reason. I worry for my student, and especially his younger sister, now being back in Afghanistan. I've had other refugee students that traveled back to their home countries that raised my eyebrows (Kurdistan, Sudan, Rwanda, etc.), and this may be ignorant, but given everything I understand, traveling back to Afghanistan (with young children) during current circumstances just seems unbelievably dangerous. Am I wrong in thinking this?