Projects

SERVE seeks individuals and communities to work with who understand and demonstrate an increasing awareness of their inherent worth and dignity as people. The deaf are an example. Unlike most Western countries, the deaf in Afghanistan have very little opportunity for education and employment. SERVE’s work with the deaf is making a difference in the lives of deaf students and their families and communities. A student of SERVE’s school for the deaf in Jalalabad says: “I love this school. Now I’m proud of my life.” SERVE is currently active in many projects like this one in Afghanistan.

SERVE’s projects fall under three specific focus areas:

• Community Development
• Preventative Health
• Disability

Each of SERVE’s focus areas present a broad spectrum of job possibilities and work opportunities. SERVE is also open to new initiatives within each of these fields that would reach beyond the scope of our present activities. 

Community Development

Our community development projects are currently in the cities and surrounding areas of Kabul, Jalalabad, and Kandahar.

We work to develop communities as they address their own felt needs and priority issues through self help groups, literacy classes, irrigation and drainage projects, cow loan programmes, vocational training, and small business enterprise development, etc. 

Preventative Health

SERVE uses home-based teaching, a school health education programme, village health clubs programme, a health education and nutrition programme, and self help groups to assist the women, children, and families of Afghanistan, particularly the poorest, to develop better nutritional and hygiene practices. By focusing on women and girls, we can influence their families as well.

In the SERVE Prevention of Blindness (PBL) project the teams work mainly in the rural areas of Afghanistan where eye care is virtually non-existent. PBL does screening, training of teachers and health workers, eye health awareness programmes, and identifies, treats, and refers patients needing surgery. 

Disability

Our aim in working with people with disability is to remove the barriers that exist in socieity and institutions that hinder inclusion into mainstream life. We seek to accomplish this through advocacy, by offering education for the deaf and blind and other children with disability, vocational training for people with disabilities, community-based rehabilitation, Braille teaching and materials development, sign language improvement, and integration into society.