PROJECTS & PROGRAMS

2007 Blanket Drive for Central Provinces in Afghanistan

Raqim Foundation launches another blanket drive and distribution to the neediest people in the region. Please click here to view the official letter.

Three-Pronged Winter Relief Project

The Raqim Foundation is pleased to announce that we have launched our annual Winter Relief Campaign for the people of central Afghanistan.

Last year’s blanket drive and distribution effort, despite numerous security concerns and countless logistical challenges, proved so successful that we hope to build on it this winter, pursuing an even more ambitious, multi-tiered approach. This unprecedented (in central Afghanistan) three-pronged initiative comes at a time when the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is deepening, as much of the country continues to be convulsed by violence and the Karzai government remains politically paralyzed and economically hamstrung: millions of impoverished Afghans – the enormity of their suffering is almost beyond human comprehension -- have been left to fend for themselves and are in desperate need of help. The winter months are especially cruel, as frigid temperatures and massive snowfalls descend on the region, unleashing outbreaks of disease and an array of other unfortunate calamities. Many children and the elderly freeze to death each year senselessly, as they simply can’t keep warm due to a lack of shelter, blankets and adequate clothing. And the amount of aid reaching the country is considerably less than what it will take to protect the millions of vulnerable Afghans at highest risk.

In response to this urgent need, the Raqim Foundation is taking the following steps to alleviate some of the suffering in the remote central highlands:

1) With some assistance from Child International, we have collected 900lbs of clothing –      shoes, socks, pants, sweaters and jackets - and will ship this cargo to Afghanistan by
     air.
2) We will also be shipping by air three massive containers full of assorted clothing,
     which we collected with the generous help of the Masjid e Muhajereen of Hayward,      California.
3) In collaboration with the Children of War, we have purchased 5,000 woolen blankets
     from an Indian factory and will transport and distribute them to the Central provinces
     in Afghanistan.

Our principal concern was to deliver these items before the onset of winter in Afghanistan, which typically occurs around mid-November. So we assembled an experienced team on the ground in Afghanistan and made preparations well in advance so that our Winter Relief Campaign would proceed as smoothly as possible.

We want to extend our deepest gratitude to the many dedicated individuals who are supporting us in this vital mission, and who are helping us navigate this logistical maze with care and efficiency. It is our sincere hope to bring some small measure of comfort to our embattled brethren in Afghanistan.

Completed & Ongoing Projects

Relief in Bamyan

The 2006 winter in Afghanistan proved to be one of the harshest in recent memory; and the fledgling government, owing to a lack of resources, was ill-equipped to handle another major humanitarian crisis. The heavy snowfall and freezing temperature brought more death and misery to the land, dramatically increasing the desperation of an already beleaguered population. Heartrending scenes played out across the country with excruciating regularity as innocent young children succumbed daily to cold-related illnesses such as pneumonia, whooping cough, and other respiratory infections. The growing multitudes of poor people were essentially on their own, left to fend for themselves amidst a stark and unforgiving landscape. Many remote villages in the impoverished mountainous regions couldn't be reached by relief workers as the roads became blocked and impassable. Avalanches were a constant threat. The stricken villagers faced a myriad of problems such as access to food, medicines, hospitals, doctors, scarcity of firewood, and lack of grazing land for their animals.

Given this backdrop, the Raqim Foundation, in coordination with the Organization for the Advancement of Afghan Women (NY) and the Masjid e Mahajareen (CA), initiated a blanket drive for the people of Bamyan Province, purchasing 2000 blankets in Kabul and transporting them to Bamyan in trucks.

Our four man mission, together with the Deputy Governor of Bamyan and other officials, then successfully distributed these blankets to one thousand needy families in several villages across this vast and desolate region.

ADRP

It has been said that the greatest acts of kindness come from small acts of love. In this spirit the Raqim Foundation, which was established two years ago to help alleviate the crushing poverty that afflicts most of Afghanistan's population, held its first fundraising event on January, 29 2006 in Fremont, California, for the Afghan Dental Relief Project (ADRP), which was founded by Dr. James Rolfe.

Twenty five years of civil war and occupation have destroyed most of the healthcare system that existed in Afghanistan. Despite five years of relative peace, the majority of Afghans have no access to basic healthcare which the rest of us take for granted. Oral health care, which is a vital component of general health and well being, remains out of the reach of most Afghans. Modern research links poor oral health to increased risk of cardiovascular disease, uncontrolled diabetes, and poor reproductive outcomes (pre-term child delivery and low birth weight children). Furthermore, acute oral-facial infections claim new lives throughout Afghan society every day.

Dr. James Rolfe, a licensed dentist in Santa Barbara, California, traveled three times to Afghanistan with mobile equipment as a volunteer, and was so touched by the plight of the people that he decided to establish a permanent clinic in Kabul not only to treat the needy but also to teach locals dental technology and dental hygiene.

The Raqim Foundation, cognizant of the importance of this project to the people of Afghanistan, raised $15,000 for ADRP. In Kabul, the Raqim Foundation's VP, Tor Achekzai, served as the liaison between Dr. Rolfe and the Afghan Government. In the US, the Raqim Foundation's Chairman introduced Dr. Rolfe to Mr. Mohammadi, who put his family's house in Karte Char -- which served as ADRP's temporary clinic -- at the disposal of ADRP, until a suitable permanent structure was erected. Our donation and valuable assistance was instrumental in helping Dr. Rolfe to begin this vital project.

The Clinic is now fully operational and serving the poor people free of charge.

GPFA

In 2005, the Global Partnership for Afghanistan (GPFA) launched a program to reduce poverty for rural Afghan women by creating income generating opportunities in horticulture. Raqim Foundation teamed up with GPFA on this project, raising $20,000 toward this effort, which yielded an additional $42,000 in matching funds. Last year, 26 female heads of household in the Shomali Valley participated in GPFA's Horticultural Business Development Program with great success.

Agriculture once sustained 80% of Afghans, accounted for 50% of the country's wealth, and made Afghanistan self-sufficient in food production. Formerly an agricultural exporter known as the orchard of Central Asia for its extraordinary fruits, Afghanistan has lost an estimated 60-80% of its orchards and vineyards to war and drought. Today, though women constitute 60% of the population and a significant portion of the agricultural work force, their participation is meagerly rewarded. Widows and female heads of households face particular difficulties due to illiteracy, cultural restrictions limiting travel and other barriers to training. Women's problems exacerbate the vulnerabilities of their children. About half of children under five years of age are stunted due to chronic malnutrition, and up to 10% suffer from acute malnutrition.

This program will assist 80 women in significantly increasing their harvest and income by providing training and access to quality vegetable and tools, much of this provided via credit. Once harvested, we assist families with food preservation and marketing. For an investment of $70 per woman in training, improved seeds, fertilizers and tools, we will help women farmers double their income from these vegetable crops, reaching over $500 in profit per half acre. That increased knowledge will pay off for years to come with increased food supplies, family nutrition and income.

This horticultural project will provide direct benefit to 93 impoverished women and provide needed food and income to their families, some 500 additional beneficiaries. The focus upon knowledge transfer and business skill development will aim, at every stage, to achieve a permanent increase in the economic standing of these women and their eventual integration into established production and market systems

In his recent trip to Afghanistan (May, 2007), Mr. Achikzad visited some of the work carried out by GPFA with Raqim Foundation's assistance in a number of villages spanning three provinces adjacent to Kabul.

Our $20,000 grant to GPFA, which yielded an additional $46,156 in matching funds from GPFA, has helped to spur economic activity throughout Afghanistan. GPFA has prepared a report for the Raqim Foundation on our grant toward GPFA's fruit orchard/agricultural revitalization project. This project helps women to establish income-generating opportunities in horticulture.

Sargailan Clinic

Until last year, there was no health facility in the entire Shuhada District of Badakhshan Province, a 45 kilometer long valley with more than 95-100 villages and roughly 35,000 inhabitants. The USAID built two health clinics in 2005, one of which is located in the middle and the other in the lower end of the valley. But none was built in the upper part of the valley, which consists of more than 45 villages and roughly half of the District's population. In 2006 when we visited the valley, two relatively young women had already died during labor just weeks before our arrival. As recently as January 2006, another twenty year-old young woman also died during labor. Her relatives were not able to transfer her to a relatively better equipped Baharak District clinic due to heavy snowfall.

There may be dozens of similar cases that are not reported or simply forgotten. There are hundreds of children and adults who suffer from a variety of diseases and cannot afford to cover this distance to reach Baharak. The need to establish a health facility in the upper part of the valley became absolutely essential.

In response to the overwhelming need for an adequate medical center in this district, in the spring of 2006, a few concerned people began construction of a clinic in Sarghailan. These same people, headed by Mr Abdul Qadeer Fitrat, approached Raqim Foundation and asked us to help them complete the facility. Raqim Foundation, after some scrutiny, made a grant toward this vital project.

The clinic is scheduled to be completed by end of the summer of 2007 and should be operational soon thereafter.

The clinic is an eight room facility including two waiting rooms (for male and female), a surgical room for small scale surgical operations, a kitchen, a male and female restrooms and three extra rooms for other purposes. This facility is easily accessible to all surrounding 45 villages in the upper part of Shuhada District. There are three paramedics/nurses with18 moths of formal training and more than fifteen years of experience in the area who are ready to serve in that clinic. In addition, the administrative body of the District has secured a Government promise for funding the salary and other expenses of a permanent medical doctor and supply of the required medicine for the clinic once it is complete.

Prospective Projects

The Raqim Foundation Board of Directors are currently investigating the following projects:

     Badakhshan Levee
     Nuristan Girls School
     Kabul Orphanage Vocational Training
     Vocational School by Satalite