United in their commitment and determination to provide hearing, healing, and hope to all Afghans who are affected by deafness and other forms of hearing loss, the Bayat Foundation—a charitable organization that works to improve the quality of life for women, the elderly, and young people in Afghanistan—and the Starkey Hearing Foundation—an organization that promotes hearing health awareness and education through the Listen Carefully campaign and provides hearing instruments to low-income Americans through the Hear Now program—announced the conclusion of their fourth annual Bayat-Starkey Afghanistan Hearing Care Mission, which took place from November 7 through November 9, on the grounds of the Bayat Media Center (BMC), in Kabul, Afghanistan.

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Operating from a field-length, specially constructed mobile care center located at the BMC, the Bayat-Starkey Hearing Care Mission restored the hearing of more than 1,000 Afghan children, women, and men, who were affected by deafness or other forms of hearing loss, according to the announcement. In addition to their efforts to combat and cure hearing loss, the combined Bayat-Starkey Teams were also said to provide critical hearing care and after-care services to other patients.

The 2017 Bayat-Starkey Hearing Care Mission was launched and led by Dr Ehsan Bayat, co-founder of the Bayat Foundation, and Brady Forseth, the executive director of philanthropy for Starkey Hearing Foundation.

The Bayat-Starkey Hearing Care Team was comprised of audiologists, working in unison with the Starkey Hearing Foundation’s team of hearing care specialists, as well as many volunteers from the the Bayat Foundation and all divisions of the Bayat Group of companies, including Afghan Wireless, Bayat, and the Ariana Television and Radio Network.

“The strong and steadfast partnership between the Bayat Foundation, and Starkey Hearing Foundation, has brought the ‘Gift of Hearing’ to thousands of Afghans,” said Bayat. “By working together, all those we have cared for, especially children, can now lead better and more promising lives. Our 2017 Hearing Care Mission was a beautiful example of Afghans helping Afghans, working together to be the change we want to see in Afghanistan and in the world.”

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“Each year, our work with the Bayat Foundation brings the ‘Gift of Hearing’ to larger numbers of Afghans, and our collective commitment to being a compassionate force for good grows even stronger,” said Forseth. “We are proud to partner with the Bayat Foundation, and we will continue our work together, to bring the ‘Gift of Hearing’ to Afghans in 2017, 2018, and for many, many years to come.”

Source: The Bayat Foundation, Starkey Hearing Foundation