KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Continuing its founding mission of nourishing the lives of Afghans, The Bayat Foundation (www.bayatfoundation.org), Afghanistan’s largest private philanthropic organization and member of The Bayat Group (www.bayat-group.com) launched a new fundraising campaign in mid-November 2021, “We Give So They May Live,” (http://www.helpafg.org/) addressing Afghanistan’s intensifying humanitarian crisis. The Foundation has released the first of what will be dozens of shipments of emergency meals, medical supplies, and winter clothing for at-risk Afghan families and internally displaced persons throughout the country. The contents of these shipments have been generously donated by the Foundation’s partner organizations in the United States.
“Our team on the ground has been serving thousands of displaced families since mid-August,” stated Bayat Foundation co-founder, Dr. Ehsan Bayat. “We have delivered thousands of food packages across multiple provinces; we provided potato nutrition packets to infants and children in hospitals suffering from malnutrition; we are shipping millions of additional meals for winter; we are distributing essential food items to many provinces throughout Afghanistan; and providing medical care through our mobile clinic. But it is not enough. Afghanistan is now facing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, and food security has all but collapsed.”
The fundraising campaign will enable the Bayat Foundation to serve the growing number of Afghans who are now tragically being forced to choose between migration and starvation. A recent UN report noted that Afghanistan is on a ‘countdown to catastrophe’ without urgent humanitarian relief, revealing a 37 per cent surge in the number of Afghans facing acute hunger since April 2020. Those at risk include 3.2 million children under five, who are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition by the end of the year, 1 million of whom risk – without immediate life-saving treatment – dying from severe acute malnutrition.
According to the World Food Programme, 18.8 million Afghans are already facing hunger and this number is expected to increase to 22.8 million by March of 2022. With a harsh winter on its way, Afghans will need even more assistance to prevent a large-scale humanitarian catastrophe.
As Bayat Foundation Executive Director, Mrs. Fatema Laya Bayat remarked: “The Bayat Foundation’s ‘We Give So They May Live’ campaign will raise funds to enable us to further expand operations in Afghanistan and nourish the lives of those at-risk displaced Afghan refugees and others who are victims of a collapsing economy, national drought, and COVID related health and economic challenges. Together with our partner organizations in the United States, we are stepping forward when others are stepping back; the lives of Afghan mothers and children depend on us.”
About the Bayat Foundation:
Since 2005, the US-based Bayat Foundation, a 501 c (3) charitable organization, has promoted the well-being of the Afghan people. Founded and directed by Dr. Ehsanollah Bayat and Fatema Bayat, the Foundation has contributed to more than 300 projects dedicated to improving the quality of life for the youth, women, poor, and elderly of Afghanistan; including construction of 14 maternity hospitals that have now treated over 3,000,000 mothers and babies.
Projects have included the construction of new facilities and sustainable infrastructure in needy regions, and the promotion of health, education, economic, and cultural programs. In addition to his charitable initiatives, Ehsanollah Bayat founded Afghan Wireless (AWCC) in 2002, which was the first GSM wireless and Internet Service Provider in Afghanistan, and later established Ariana Radio and Television Network (ATN), which includes Ariana Radio (FM 93.5). For more information, please email info@bayatfoundation.org.
