After COVID-19 extended their stay in Texas following heart operations, two children are finally being allowed to return home to Mongolia after nearly four months.

Six-year-old Ariun and one-year-old Solongo were brought to Austin and San Antonio in February to undergo life-saving heart surgeries to correct congenital heart defects.

Before the two were scheduled to go home, however, the Mongolian government closed the country’s borders to international travel. Now, the children and their parents, should finally be on their way back home on a chartered repatriation flight scheduled to leave the US on Sunday, 28 June.

The operations were made possible by the nonprofit HeartGift, which brings children to the United States for necessary surgeries. Volunteer host families provide a home for the child and their caregiver for the duration of the child’s stay, which is typically four to six weeks.

Ariun and Solongo’s host families have helped to care for them and their parents ever since their trips were extended.

Ariun received his heart surgery at Dell Children’s Medical Centre in Austin, and Solongo received hers at University Medical Centre in San Antonio.