When we speak with our family and friends, whether by mobile phone, or face to face we take for granted our ability to hear the voices of the people we love. The ability to hear is a precious privilege—a privilege that far too many Afghans who suffer from hearing loss have never enjoyed.
This Autumn, The Bayat Foundation (www.bayat-foundation.com), together with The Starkey Hearing Foundation, (www.starkeyhearingfoundation.org), will sponsor our second annual joint medical mission in Afghanistan. Our joint medical team will provide urgent care that will restore the hearing of more than 1,000 Afghans throughout our nation.
In addition to providing patients with hearing restoration treatments and on site medical care, The Bayat Foundation/Starkey Hearing Foundation medical team will provide each patient with hearing aids, batteries and instructions on how to use their new hearing aids and care for them properly.
Our two-year partnership with The Starkey Hearing Foundation has bestowed the gift of hearing to thousands of our fellow Afghans—and I’m proud to say that The Bayat Foundation has also been a strong supporter of the Starkey Hearing Foundation’s efforts to provide hearing care around the world. The Bayat Foundation was honored to be a Centurion Sponsor of the Starkey Hearing Foundation’s recent “So That The World May Hear,” Annual Gala, held on 26 July in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. Over 1600 guests attended the event, which raised nine million dollars to support the Starkey Hearing Foundation’s Hearing Care programs.
Hearing impairment affects more than 360 million people in the world today, and in Afghanistan, those most affected by the scourge of deafness are thousands of Afghan women, children and mothers. The greatest hope shared by everyone affiliated with The Bayat Foundation and The Bayat Group is that one day, every Afghan will have the ability to live a healthy and prosperous life.
Mrs. Fatema Bayat, my wife and the co-founder of The Bayat Foundation, eloquently expressed the reasons why our organization chose the Starkey Hearing Foundation as one of our partners in Afghanistan:
“Partnering with the Starkey Hearing Foundation in this vital work of helping our fellow Afghans receive the gift of hearing, helps us achieve the most sacred part of The Bayat Foundation’s mission: empowering Afghans with the care and knowledge so that they can use the fullest measure of their talents to help build an Afghanistan that is peaceful, prosperous and filled with promise for all of its citizens.”