The Bayat Foundation—an Afghanistan-based Health, Education, and Social Development Organization— announced that Dr Ehsan Bayat, the Foundation’s co-founder and chairman, and Fatema Laya Bayat, a Foundation co-founder and president, received the 2018 global humanitarian award from the Starkey Hearing Foundation.
The award was presented to the Bayats during the annual “So the World May Hear” Awards Gala on July 15, 2018. Previous recipients of the global humanitarian award include Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, and Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Starkey Hearing Foundation—a public charity founded by William F. Austin—is said to give the gift of hearing to people in need throughout the world. The global humanitarian award—Starkey Hearing Foundation’s highest commendation—celebrates two of the Bayat Foundation’s most vital initiatives: the joint Bayat-Starkey Afghanistan Hearing Care Missions, which have brought the gift of hearing to over 4,000 Afghans over the past four years, as well as the Bayat Foundation’s success in providing Education, Healthcare, Clean Water, Emergency, and Family Assistance to millions of Afghans since 2006, according to the announcement.
Since 2014, The Bayat Foundation and Starkey Hearing Foundation have conducted an annual hearing care mission in Afghanistan. Working from specially constructed mobile care centers in Herat, Mazar-I-Sharif, Kabul City, and other Afghan cities and regions, joint teams of Bayat-Starkey hearing care specialists, have restored the hearing of over 4,000 Afghans, who were affected by hearing loss or other forms of hearing impairment.
In addition to the annual hearing care missions, teams of hearing care specialists, based in Afghanistan, are said to provide essential follow-up care services to patients.
“Receiving this award from Starkey Hearing Foundation is a great honor for my wife, Fatema Laya, and myself,“ said Ehsanollah Bayat, chairman of The Bayat Foundation. “In 2006, when my wife and I started The Bayat Foundation, we had a simple, but powerful wish—we wanted to nourish the lives of Afghans by providing essential healthcare, education, and clean water—the basic necessities of life.
“The strong and steadfast partnership between The Bayat Foundation, and the Starkey Hearing Foundation, has brought the Gift of Hearing to thousands of at-risk Afghans,” he said. “And these missions are a beautiful example of how, by working together with committed partners such as the Starkey team, we can help Afghans live better and healthier lives.”
“Together, The Bayat Foundation and Starkey Hearing Foundation have brought hearing, healing, and hope to thousands of Afghans, living in every part of the nation,” said Fatema Laya. “When we nourish people by helping them to hear, to learn, and to live healthier lives, then people are able to flourish and build a better tomorrow—not just for themselves—but for their families and for Afghanistan.”
Source: The Bayat Foundation, Starkey Hearing Foundation
