The Starkey Foundation expressed appreciation to ATFP President Dr. Ziad Asali in a tweet on May 2: “We were honored to have your support! Thanks for all you have done to help give people in the Middle East the gift of hearing.” ATFP is proud to have played a strategic role in the project. The Starkey Foundation issued a statement on their blog on May 7th acknowledging that insurmountable obstacles and inherent intricacies were facing their mission in Palestine and Jordan. “When President and Founder of the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) Dr. Ziad Asali offered his organization’s assistance, we knew we had found our solution,” wrote the Starkey Foundation describing their efforts to find “some powerful partners that could help [them] move mountains…in contested regions.”

ATFP thanks Jordan's Ambassador to the United States, H.E. Alia Bouran, for her help in facilitating the Jordan hearing mission. The Palestine hearing mission was supported by Physicians for Human Rights and Israel’s Sheba Medical Center.

Among those who received the donated hearing units was a Syrian family, a father and his three children, who all lost their hearing in an explosion before fleeing to Jordan. “Relief and tears of joy rippled through our team, as we watched each of them come to life again in the world of sound,” said the Starkey Foundation on their blog.

This project was part of the “So the World May Hear” campaign of the Starkey Foundation. William F. Austin founded Starkey Hearing Foundation in 1984 with the premise: “Alone we can’t do much, but together we can change the world.” The Foundation believes hearing is the answer to many of the world’s most intractable problems: isolation, poverty, and illiteracy.

Jordan
Dates: April 2 – 3
City: Amman
More than 700 patients given the gift of hearing; More than 1,400 hearing aids fit.

West Bank
Dates: April 6 – 10
Cities: Ramallah, Tul Karem, Hebron
More than 1,600 patients given the gift of hearing; More than 3,200 hearing aids fit.

The Starkey Foundation uses hearing as a vehicle to change lives around the world. Hearing loss is a global epidemic, with disabling hearing loss impacting more than 360 million people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. Yet with the help of a hearing device, hearing loss can often be corrected in many cases, giving an individual the opportunity to better connect with family, the community and the world around them. The Starkey Foundation fits more than 100,000 hearing aids around the world annually, and as a member of the Clinton Global Initiative, it has pledged to fit one million hearing aids this decade.

ATFP looks forward to working with the Starkey Foundation in future missions to bring much-needed the gift of hearing to Palestine and other parts of the Middle East.

"We are excited to see what the future of our partnership with ATFP holds. We look forward to having an even bigger impact and opening up the world of sound to even more people in need. Together we can change the world!" --Starkey Foundation, May 7th