You Are Not Alone; The Foundation That Timur Tillyaev And His Wife Have Created to Help Underprivileged Children

 

As parents themselves, Timur Tillyaev and his wife, Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva have a deep understanding of what children need to thrive. They also share a profound compassion for children who are forced to endure a life of grinding poverty. Recognizing that this was the reality for many kids in their homeland of Uzbekistan, in 2002 they decided to do something about it. Together, Timur Tillyaev and Lola launched the You Are Not Alone foundation. Now, nearly two decades later, their organization continues its inspiring work of enhancing the life opportunities of underprivileged kids across the country. 

Timur Tillyaev and Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva  built the You Are Not Alone foundation around the principle of philanthropy. Unlike charity, which simply eases the immediate needs of the recipient, their foundation pursues a more ambitious goal. By targeting their assistance towards health and education their aim is to empower disadvantaged children to achieve autonomy over their own futures. Or, as they have said themselves, 

        “to help unlock the children’s potential by providing them with an all-round     education, and to prepare children for independent life, encouraging them to become self-reliant, confident and emotionally stable you adults.”

 

To this end, You Are Not Alone made orphanages a priority. Timur Tillyaev and Lola Karimova have consistently focused upon improving the quality of care and the variety of services provided by Uzbek ‘mercy homes.’ Whether this be the provision of new equipment and furniture or a total refurbishment, the goal is always the same – “to ensure that vulnerable children grow up in a caring and loving environment,”

Beyond this, both Timur Tillyaev and Lola Tillyaeva appreciate the difference a good education makes to an individual’s life opportunities. For this reason, they continue to support hundreds of Uzbek children through primary and secondary schooling. Where students show special aptitude, they are even sponsored through to university level.

You Are Not Alone has gone from strength-to-strength. In more recent times, Timur and Lola identified an urgent need among children suffering from complex cardiac diseases. In this case, they chose to collaborate with the French Associaiton La Chaîne de l’Espoir (Chain of Hope).

Since 2015, with the backing of the You Are Not Alone Foundation, French cardiac surgeons have carried out over 130 operations on Uzbek children with complex congenital heart conditions, all of whom come from Uzbekistan’s low-income families and orphanages. With the Foundation’s support, 21 of these operations were carried out in France.

Timur Tillyaev proud to share projects with his wife Lola Tillyaeva

Timur Tillyaev is justifiably proud of his wife Lola Karimova. Though he is known to be an avid supporter of her diverse projects, his business interests limit the time he can commit to them himself. After completing his degree at Midland University in the United States he found remarkable success in the world of international transport.  However, there is one project which he puts above all else – raising their three beautiful children.  

The You Are Not Alone foundation was begun in 2002 and Timur Tillyaev, along with his wife Lola Tillyaeva, was involved from the beginning. A native of Uzbekistan, like Lola Tillyaeva herself, Timur shares her deep compassion for children born into disadvantage. Together they have sponsored a range of initiatives which aim to boost the opportunities for Uzbek youth. Recognizing the importance education played in his own life, Timur Tillyaev ensured that the provision of schooling would be one of the central aims of You Are Not Alone. Not only does the foundation provide access to primary and secondary schooling, it also offers scholarships to allow high performing students to pursue their studies at university.

Another of Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva’s projects is The Harmonist. Reflecting her husband’s business savvy, Lola’s maison de parfums has met with great commercial and critical success. Blending Eastern philosophies with European know-how, Harrods’ department store described her range as, “tantalising – an expertly composed complexity of scents…”. As Lola Tillyaeva herself explains it, “There is no such thing as a perfume that is ideal for everyone. Like clothes, it depends on the occasion and character of the person” 

Being profoundly concerned about the challenge of climate change, The Droplet project is also close to Timur Tillyaev’s heart. As a father, he wants to ensure a healthy, sustainable future for his children. For this reason, he is happy to promote Lola’s project at every opportunity. Composed of aluminium tubing, The Droplet forms a stylized droplet of water towering 12 meters high. Designed to envelope itself in a fine mist, the objective is to provide a “multi-sensory experience” and stimulate discussion about the issue of water scarcity.

From a young age Timur Tillyaev was entranced by the incredible story of Ulugh Beg. As a grandson of Tamerlane, Ulugh Beg was made ruler whilst still a teenager and turned his 15th century capital, Samarkand, into a beacon of learning and scientific discovery. As if that were not enough, he also possessed one of the greatest minds of his age. Centuries before the discovery of the telescope and the appearance of Galileo and Copernicus, Ulugh Beg was making advances that neither could better. 

Sharing a passion for the man and his legend, Timur Tillyaev and Lola teamed up to produce an acclaimed documentary to celebrate his life. As Lola explains, “a man who in the 15th century turned Samarkand into the epicenter of the world’s most advanced studies in astronomy – I thought that his extraordinary story should be told to the world”.