Salome Gardava created new opportunities by overcoming obstacles. It all started with the diagnosis of her youngest son. Ilia was diagnosed with fourth-degree neurosensory hearing loss. For Salome, as a mother, this was a serious challenge - there were no essential services for children with special needs (namely those having hearing difficulties/hearing impaired) in the region, nor was the level of awareness high. It looked like mothers were accustomed to their situation and had no hope of change.

“In 2018, Ilia, my son, underwent cochlear implantation, after which the post-operation rehabilitation course is very important for the development of a child. I found out that there was no such service in the region and we had to take a course at the Tbilisi organization. It was a big problem for parents. Children were left without services, so we decided to make positive changes through establishing an organization in the region”.

Association “ILI” was established in 2019 in Samegrelo. Its purpose is to protect the rights of children with special needs as well as facilitate personal development and integration into society. The organization counts about 40 beneficiaries.

“ILI” actively cooperates with the local self-government and a successful example of this is a decision on funding external auditory processors of cochlear implants taken by the self-government on the basis of a research document related to the needs of children with hearing loss.

“From 2020, there has been allocated GEL45000 in the budget of every year, which finances 3 beneficiaries a year. This is our great achievement in the region”. As Salome notes, initially parents were reluctant to participate in projects, in the decision-making process as well as in collaboration with the local self-government.

“I remember when 2 years ago I asked them to bring children to film a video clip, it was only one parent who brought a child. While for the last shooting 4 children came. I see the attitude of parents changes and I would like to make them more active”.

A room for a rehabilitation center was provided to Association “ILI” for temporary use, which was renovated with donations, however, they lack necessary equipment, furniture at this stage and do not have a speech and language therapist either. “One of our goals is to make a rehabilitation course after cochlear implantation available in the Samegrelo region as well, and we will spare no efforts to do so”.