Dr. James Rolfe seeks donations to help with relocation cost for facility for the poor in Afghanistan
The Taliban have taken control of the land for a Kabul clinic built by a Santa Barbara dentist.
About a month ago, the Taliban closed the Afghanistan Dental Relief Project in Kabul and seized the land given to the project by the former Afghan government.
The dental project has provided free dental care for more than 200,000 poor Afghans during its 20 years of operation.
Dr. James Rolfe, a Santa Barbara dentist, built the Kabul clinic that the Taliban seized. He is now seeking donations to help with the clinic’s relocation.
Dr. Rolfe told the News-Press how his involvement began.
“In 2003, I went to Wardak province and was working with a bunch of orphan boys who had seven or eight abscess teeth each,” Dr. Rolfe said. “The Wardak province is about the size of Connecticut, and there is no dentist in the whole province. The only option was a local barber with unsterile instruments and no anesthetic.”
Dr. Rolfe returned to Santa Barbara and constructed a modern three-chair dental clinic from a 40-foot shipping container, completely self-contained with its own generator, and sent it to Afghanistan. Then he hired an Afghan dentist and nurse and trained them to use it, and started a school to train dental technicians from poor young Kabul residents.
Dr. Rolfe continued to build more dental clinics from shipping containers during the following years, going there many times during the last 20 years.
Taliban officials have forcibly closed the Kabul clinic, preventing its four dentists and technical staff members from treating the hundreds of poor Kabul residents from accessing it, Dr. Rolfe told the News-Press.
Closure of the Kabul Stomatology Hospital, which employed 25 dentists and treated nearly a thousand patients a day, has forced thousands of poor Kabul residents to access the free services of the dental project that Dr Rolfe founded.
“The Taliban took over Afghanistan and promptly interfered with the rights of the Afghan people, even though they said they would not do that,” Dr. Rolfe said. “As a result, other world countries withdrew their financial support from Afghanistan, removing about three-fourths of the regular fiscal support for the economy. This caused massive cuts in spending to fund the government.
“Taliban are not good government people in the first place, so they are not able to efficiently run the government and have too much expense even if they had the money,” Dr. Rolfe said. “Three-quarters of the hospitals are closed because they cannot afford to heat the hospitals. In the remaining hospitals, doctors have not been paid for over a year, and patients must bring in all of the medicines and bandaging needs themselves, as the hospitals have none of this.”
The Taliban are forcing the project off the land, violating its contract to use the land for free, and demanding that the project relocate elsewhere, Dr. Rolfe said.
He explained that no other land or support has been offered to help with the relocation, which is estimated to take six months and cost more than $10,000. In addition, the project must find a way to support the staff during the relocation period.
Dr. Rolfe added that the Taliban are forcing the dental project off the land because it has thousands of vendors’ carts on the streets. The Taliban wants to use the land for the vendors and get their carts off the streets.
“Much of the commerce of Kabul is done by poor people who sell produce and other items on four-wheeled carts that are pushed along the Kabul streets,” Dr. Rolfe said. “The Taliban are making push-carts illegal now, and will force push-cart vendors to purchase stalls in marketplaces built on government land. This will not help make more money, as most push-cart vendors are poor and will just be forced out of business.”
When the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, repressive actions were taken to remove basic human rights for Afghan citizens. This caused philanthropic nations and organizations to withdraw financial support for Afghanistan, and resulted in three-fourths of the Afghan fiscal budget disappearing.
As a result, many hospitals and other basic services of the government have ceased to be available to the Afghan people.
The Afghanistan Dental Relief Project is faced now with finding new land to rent, in addition to moving expenses and costs of supporting its staff during the transition.
“Our project manager had an interview with the Taliban Affairs Department three days ago. That is the highest level where we have recourse,” Dr. Rolfe said. “We need to hear from the Taliban Affairs Committee. If they make us move the project, we have to start packing and disassembling equipment.
“Clinics were built in shipping containers because we anticipated this might happen. It takes about 10 truckloads to move everything,” Dr. Rolfe said. “We also have to support staff and secure the locations with fencing around the perimeter. The whole process will probably take about six months. We have about $250,000 worth of equipment over there, and it costs about $10,000 to relocate.”
The need is critical, Dr. Rolfe said.
Ninety percent of Afghans face food insecurity. Most are unemployed. Now R poor will have no access to free them from the pain of dental problems, Dr. Rolfe said.
He added that the dental project can only continue if people come forward to support the relocation of the facility.
“I have put about $2 million of my own money into this,” said Dr. Rolfe.
“We are trying to raise $10,000 to fund moving to other land,” he said. “If we are unable to find land, continue to pay our staff,and afford to move, the Taliban will seize everything we have there, clear the land. And it will be over.”
email: kzehnder@newspress.com
FYI
To become a monthly supporter or make a one-time donation for the Afghanistan Dental Relief Project, go to www.adrpinc.org and select “donate.” Or contact Dr. Rolfe at his Santa Barbara office — adrp@verizon.net or 805-963-2329.
