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The Tech Orthopedic Service building in Taimani, Kabul

01 — About us

Engineering mobility in the heart of Kabul.

Tech Orthopedic Service is the workshop brand of Empor Organization — a registered Afghan NGO building world-class prosthetics and orthotics at home, since 2005.

TOS Workshop · KabulEST · 2005

Our mission

To restore movement, independence and dignity — to every patient who walks through our doors.

We combine genuine German components and technique with hands-on craftsmanship and long-term support, so our devices don't just fit on paper — they work in real life, on Kabul's streets, at work and at school. Best quality for better life.

02 — Our story

From a one-man workshop to a national service.

Two countries, one promise — these are the people and the years that carried it.

2004 – 2005 · The beginning

Before the first bench

The story begins before the workshop did. In 2004 — in the earliest days of this journey — Sylvia Glaser of Munich's Office for Return Assistance (Coming Home) travelled to Kabul. A year later, Abdul Wali Nawabi opened a small workshop in the city: one man with improvised tools, making by hand what would normally demand a fully equipped European facility. That same year, Empor's founder Rudolf Jaerschky and his wife came to Afghanistan to see the work with their own eyes.

A young Wali inside an early shipment
Abdul Wali Nawabi

Twenty years

Rudolf Jaerschky — the heart of Empor

To put the workshop on lasting footing, Wali joined a circle of supporters in Germany — led by Rudolf Jaerschky, who dedicated the last twenty years of his life to building Empor (registered 2007, NGO #995, Ministry of Economy). Machines, materials, donations, friendships: what Kabul needed, Rudolf went out and found. Everything we make today stands on the foundation he laid.

Rudolf, carrying crutches to the container
Wali and Rudolf at the container
Wali, Sylvia Glaser and Rudolf in the Munich warehouse

Since 2004 · Munich

Sylvia Glaser — the Munich lifeline

From the Coming Home office of Munich's Sozialreferat, Frau Sylvia Glaser has carried our German side for two decades — and still does. She keeps every relationship alive, collects the donated goods, runs the warehouse, holds the ties with German workshops strong, and arranges each container from Munich to Kabul. We are lucky to have her beside us.

Sorting donations in Munich
A visit between the shelves
The warehouse rounds

Year after year

A warehouse full of second lives

Wheelchairs and walkers by the row, crutches by the bundle, machines from German partners — Ottobock, Streifeneder and Kurtze among them — strapped to pallets: in the Munich warehouse every donation is sorted, counted and packed. Nothing is wasted; everything is destined for a patient in Afghanistan.

Collected for Kabul
Wheelchairs, ready to travel
Crutches by the bundle
Counted and packed
A drill press, strapped for the road

Every two years

Loading day

Then comes the morning the container stands at the gate. Pallet by pallet, Sylvia's colleagues load twenty feet of hope — as they have done, faithfully, all these years. To every one of them: thank you.

Pallets to the container
Loading at Tor 6
Forklift at work
The container at the gate

Kabul

And Kabul receives

Weeks later, the doors open again — in Kabul. German machines are unwrapped and bolted to our benches; boxes become shelves of parts; patients find us. Out of these containers we trained more than thirty of our own specialists and built the reputation we hold today: German quality with genuine humanitarian care.

Unloading in Kabul
A German bandsaw finds its bench
Casting a young patient's arm
Standing again, outside the workshop

An Afghan first

We were the first orthopedic workshop in Afghanistan to fit prosthetics with silicone liners — when almost no one in the country yet knew what they were.

With gratitude

To Rudolf Jaerschky, to Sylvia Glaser, and to every colleague who has loaded a container across all these years — this workshop stands because you carried it.

03 — Field projects

Care that travels beyond the workshop.

Alongside our day-to-day work in Kabul, Empor has delivered focused projects with respected international partners — reaching patients far from the capital.

The road to Faryab
UN · ACAP III · The road to Faryab01 / 09
A complete workshop, on wheels
UN · ACAP III · A complete workshop, on wheels02 / 09
Three technicians, one knee joint
UN · ACAP III · Three technicians, one knee joint03 / 09
Built and aligned on site
UN · ACAP III · Built and aligned on site04 / 09
First steps in Kunduz
UN · ACAP III · First steps in Kunduz05 / 09
Between two sessions
UN · ACAP III · Between two sessions06 / 09
Walking home on a new limb
CPI Project · Walking home on a new limb07 / 09
A handshake, returned
Hand Project · A handshake, returned08 / 09
A new arm, a wide smile
Hand Project · A new arm, a wide smile09 / 09

United Nations · ACAP III · 2015

A workshop on wheels.

Partnering with the UN, we fitted out a mobile workshop inside a vehicle and brought prosthetic care to remote villages in Faryab — fitting 80 limbs there, with a further 40 for civilians in need in Kunduz.

120 limbs · 2 provinces

CPI Project

Wider access to rehabilitation.

A broad rehabilitation programme that reached 142 patients — most needing prosthetic limbs, some upper-limb (hand) prostheses, and others orthoses such as KAFOs and AFOs — widening access to care for persons with disabilities.

142 patients fitted

Hand Rehabilitation Project

Rebuilding the human hand.

Produced and individually fitted upper-limb prostheses, each one fully documented with photographic records of the result.

12 prosthetic hands

04 — What we stand for

Principles we build by.

Precision

German materials and technique, measured tolerances and rigorous fitting — every time.

Dignity

Patients are partners. We listen, explain and respect every person's goals.

Self-reliance

Orthotic supports made in-house from raw materials, building toward full independence.

Accessibility

Outreach, referrals and follow-up so distance is never the barrier to care.

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Prosthetic limbs fitted

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Orthotic patients served

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Years of service

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Specialists & technicians

05 — Recognition

Known beyond Kabul.

Twenty years of exhibitions, international visitors and German-equipped workshops — quiet proof that the work holds up.

Exhibition · 2017
Exhibition · 2017
Exhibition · 2022
Exhibition · 2022
Exhibition · 2015
Exhibition · 2015
Public presentation
Public presentation
Delegation from Japan
Delegation from Japan
Visitors from Japan
Visitors from Japan
International visitors
International visitors
German workshop equipment
German workshop equipment
Equipment & materials
Equipment & materials
Exhibition · 2017
Exhibition · 2017
Exhibition · 2022
Exhibition · 2022
Exhibition · 2015
Exhibition · 2015
Public presentation
Public presentation
Delegation from Japan
Delegation from Japan
Visitors from Japan
Visitors from Japan
International visitors
International visitors
German workshop equipment
German workshop equipment
Equipment & materials
Equipment & materials
On the stand · 2017
On the stand · 2017
On the stand · 2022
On the stand · 2022
Exhibition · 2015
Exhibition · 2015
Public presentation
Public presentation
Visitors from Japan
Visitors from Japan
International visitors
International visitors
International visitors
International visitors
Equipment & materials
Equipment & materials
On the stand · 2017
On the stand · 2017
On the stand · 2022
On the stand · 2022
Exhibition · 2015
Exhibition · 2015
Public presentation
Public presentation
Visitors from Japan
Visitors from Japan
International visitors
International visitors
International visitors
International visitors
Equipment & materials
Equipment & materials

06 — Partners

Built with trusted partners.

We work alongside partners in Germany and the United Nations to bring world-class care to Afghanistan.

United Nations

ACAP III partner (2015)

Coming Home — Sozialreferat, Landeshauptstadt München
Das Büro für Rückkehrhilfen im Sozialreferat der Landeshauptstadt München

Munich · Office for Return Assistance

reintegration@muenchen.de

Come and meet the team.

Visit our Taimani workshop for an assessment, or reach out with any question about prosthetics, orthotics or rehabilitation.