"Granddaughters will learn to hear together": little Mila and Anhelina from Mariupol received state-of-the-art hearing aids from the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation

Three-year-old Mila and one-and-a-half-year-old Anhelina are sisters. Their mum and dad have hearing impairments, which both daughters inherited. The family are IDPs from Mariupol who now live in Dnipro. There, the girls' grandmothers turned to the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation for help with their granddaughters' hearing prosthetics - Mila and Anhelina have recently received state-of-the-art hearing aids that are customised to each child's specific needs.

"Our granddaughters are very cheerful and smart. Doctors told us they needed the highest quality hearing aids because their remaining hearing is low. We asked at the centre where we received humanitarian aid and were told how to apply to the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation. Within a month, both children received hearing aids. It is important that they will learn to hear together. This is a great contribution to our family. We are very grateful to Rinat Akhmetov for this help," says Larysa, one of the grandmothers.

The family has many years of experience raising and developing children with hearing impairments: the girls' parents are both hearing impaired. Iryna Banyk, audiometrist at the Hearing Centre, is confident that the family will not give up and will help the girls develop properly. 

"Hearing aids are expensive; some families cannot afford them. The Foundation helps families and helps children develop. The children can hear sounds in the devices, but they need to have lessons with a sign language teacher to develop their speech. Here, both parents and grandmothers understand what needs to be done. I think everything will be fine in this family," the doctor says. 

"Children give strength to life. I want to live and want everyone around me to live," adds Larysa.

With assistance in hearing prosthetics under the "Rinat Akhmetov to Children! I Can Hear Now" project, children with hearing impairments under the age of 7 who live or have lived in territorial communities in hostilities, occupation, or encirclement areas can receive assistance. The project has already helped more than 240 children to hear the world.

If a child among your relatives or friends needs hearing prosthetics, please call the toll-free hotline 0 (800) 509 001 (Monday to Friday) or write to the Foundation's messenger https://m.me/AkhmetovFDU.