Kabul, Afghanistan—October 17, 2019—Continuing its mission to improve the lives of Afghans, and to provide Hearing, Healing and Hope to all Afghans affected by deafness or hearing impairments, The Bayat Foundation (www.bayatfoundation.org), Afghanistan’s largest private charitable organization, in partnership with Starkey Hearing Foundation (www.starkeyhearingfoundation.org), announced the successful completion of their Sixth Annual Bayat-Starkey Afghanistan Hearing Care Mission.

Conducted on the campus of Bayat Media Center, in Kabul, from October 10^th to October 15^th, the 2019 Bayat-Starkey Hearing Care Mission provided over 1,406 Afghans with the precious Gift of Hearing, through the provision of hearing aids as well as hearing assessment and treatment services.

Dr. Ehsanollah Bayat, Co-Chairman of the Bayat Foundation and Chairman of The Bayat Group, launched the 2019 Bayat-Starkey Hearing Care Mission with an October 10^th  Welcoming Ceremony. Speaking at the Bayat Media Center to an audience of Afghan government officials, Starkey Hearing Foundation partners, NGO representatives and volunteers from The Bayat Group, Dr. Bayat celebrated the audience’s commitment to “Undertake the hard, but vital and inspiring work of restoring the hearing of our fellow Afghans, who will enter our compound in a world of silence and then leave into a world rich with sound and joy. “

The 2019 Afghanistan Hearing Care Mission is the sixth in a series of joint missions by the Bayat Foundation and the Starkey Hearing Foundation, which since 2014, have provided The Gift of Hearing, and vital hearing aftercare assistance to more than 8,000 Afghans living throughout Afghanistan.

Throughout the 2019 Afghanistan Hearing Care Mission, each individual seeking treatment for deafness or hearing impairment was examined by members of the Bayat-Starkey Hearing Care Team, comprised of an international group of Audiologists, Hearing Care Specialists and highly trained volunteers from The Bayat Group and The Bayat Foundation.

“When we restore a person’s hearing, we’re giving them an opportunity to receive a better education, to earn a better living, and to forge a healthier and happier life,” Dr. Bayat said.

“Everyone who participated in the Bayat-Starkey Hearing Care Mission—our colleagues from The Bayat Foundation and our partners from The Starkey Hearing Foundation—all are helping to build an Afghanistan where we provide the Gift of Hearing to all who need it—and a nation where all Afghans have an equal opportunity to attend school, receive medical treatment and build the best lives that they can,” said Mrs. Fatema Laya Bayat, the Co-Founder of The Bayat Foundation. “The recipients of these hearing aids, are now part of a richer and more hopeful world—a world where they can hear children laugh, birds sing, educators teach and the voices of their friends and families.”