The Children's Home of Svir Stroi is located on Sosnovaya Street in the village of Svir Stroi in a remote, impoverished region of northern Russia on the Svir River halfway between Lakes Ladoga and Onegin. The 125 children here are hungry. Malnutrition is slowing their growth. Twelve year olds are just now losing baby teeth. The doctor visits only once a year. The children’s clothing is poor. The building is falling apart. The caregivers get paid only sporadically and the director’s budget gets cut every year. But these children still have their dreams.

Vladimir wants to become an economist. When he has his degree, he wants to collect his younger siblings from the detsky doms where they live and bring them home to raise.

Olga and Vera, two very talented sisters, want to study architecture and design.

Sasha, when he was fifteen, placed 975 out of 20,000 in a pan-European competition for students of algebra. He has had meningitis. That keeps him from being considered for higher education. He wants to study mathematics and then return with his siblings to the mountains of the Altai to teach.

Misha fixes all the dom’s small electrical appliances but he needs surgery on his wandering eye before he can go to electrician’s school.

Katya wants to study medicine and make a home for her younger sister and brother.

Larisa and Marina want to teach small children.

Zhenya wants to be an actress.

Without our help Misha will not be sent to school at all. Sasha just needs a complete physical to be allowed to enter university. The other boys will be sent to carpentry school and the girls to seamstress or clerical training. Almost nothing is being built in this area of Russia and there are no clothing factories and very few clerical jobs.