The mayhem a big volcano on a small lsland can cause…you wouldn’t believe...the Eyjafjallajökull disrupts the economy and the plans of many people, but on top of that it throws a spanner in the projects of Medics without Vacation.

Transportation is never simple in Africa. Once you’re outside the large cities, it is not simple to find roads you can actually drive on. Last week however, was a first in the history of AZV, we never experienced these kind of problems to get our teams to Africa or get them home safely. And it wasn’t even due to the condition of African roads!

As you can read on Jamina's blog our orthopaedic team (Dominique, Joost, Monique and Jamina) is still stuck in Lubumbashi, Congo to this day. Let’s hope they can board the plane tonight so they can see their loved ones tomorrow at 8u25.

Two teams left for Kinshasa, Congo only yesterday, (21/04) instead of leaving on Sunday (18/04) as planned. Luckily Marleen and Stéphanie as well as Bart and Sarah had the option to postpone their return a little (02/05) and Marleen even on 08/05) in order to fulfill their mission.

Today 2 teams are leaving:

• The hospital of Walungu, the Congo is glad that they can receive the team of Claude, Willem, Bernadette and Sylvia anyway. Their patients can be operated on and management can be tackled. Almost the complete team (apart from for Krista) can stay longer (till 05/05).
• Hilde, Gerda and Roland can stay a bit longer as well in Bukavu, Congo. Hospitals are relieved their broken down equipment will be mended shortly and the lab will personnel have the chance to be upgraded, until 14/05 instead of 09/05.

Pol, 2 Patricia's and Caroline are anxious and hope they can leave tomorrow for Benin (5 days later than planned) to both operate and diagnose at the hosipital of Djougou.

Luckily another team was able to adapt its dates and postponed the surgical mission to Luhwinja until June. The hospital was happy to learn that Edgar, Ginette and Anne come to help them anyway!

We regret to have to say that two teams couldn’t leave because their stay on site would really be too short:

• The surgical team of Stephan, Isabel and Nadine to Mafinga, Tanzania
• The surgical and paediatrics team of Claude, Frans, Irène, Sabine and Athina to Dschang, Cameroon

So many patients were waiting already (55 in Cameroon)… alas they cannot be helped now. No doubt this human suffering is the worst consequence of the volvanic ash cloud, as far as MWV is concerned. No aviation company can compensate for these damages...

Let’s hope we can quickly send new teams to help these patients!