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.