“Thank You for Our Son Being Able to Hear the Ukrainian Language”: 5-Year-Old Vania From Cherkasy Region Received Modern Hearing Aids From the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation

Vania’s future adoptive parents met the little boy for the first time when he settled next door together with his grandmother and his aunt. Already then, they noticed that the boy had some hearing problems, as he only responded to a loud handclapping. Later, Vania ended up in an orphanage, and the new family did everything to take him under their care. Now he lives in a large family in Cherkasy region. Five-year-old Vania received modern hearing aids from the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation. He will be able to hear sounds, learn to speak, and develop on a par with his peers.

“Ivan [full for Vania] has bilateral sensorineural hearing loss of 3-4 degree. The boy cannot speak at all due to the hearing impairment, and his development is delayed. Vania receives the most modern hearing devices, the newest gadgets that support a lot of functions. Vania needs to hear in order to be able to talk and communicate. He is going to attend school soon. The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation has done a great job. The boy will be developing the way it should be only thanks to the [hearing] devices,” says Galyna Ivashchenko, an autometrist at the Hearing Center in Kyiv.

The adoptive parents dreamed of having their son’s hearing ability restored. One day, a neighbour learned from social networks and told them about the hearing aids offered to children by the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation.

“Vania needs the hearing devices to be able to understand not just handclapping, not movements, and not only signs. He needs to hear our Ukrainian language, hear his parents, hear the anthem of Ukraine. We are thankful to the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation for their care. For helping to raise such children, so that they could hear and develop in the free Ukrainian state. I understand that we took such a step as parents. Rinat Akhmetov takes these steps twice as much when he helps people. I am grateful to him for the fact that these devices will help the boy live a full-fledged life. I wish him happiness, good health, and God’s blessing,” says the boy’s dad. 

“Vania, can you hear me?” the doctor quietly asks after installing the new hearing aids. The boy immediately turns to her, smiles beamingly, and nods his head.

The assistance with hearing aids within the framework of the project Rinat Akhmetov for Children. I Can Hear Now can be received by children under the age of 7 who live or have lived in the territorial communities in war zones, under occupation or encirclement, and suffer from hearing impairment. Now, 215 boys and girls can fully hear the world again thanks to the Foundation. 

If your relatives or acquaintances have a child who needs hearing aids, please contact the toll-free hotline 0 (800) 509 001, or write to the Foundation’s messenger http://m.me/AkhmetovFDU

During the 17 years of its operation, the program Rinat Akhmetov for Children has supported more than five million children.