It was a sad and desperate existence, but because adoption is rare in Russia, Masha expected to live there until she turned 18. When authorities responded, they took Masha away to live in an orphanage. When she was 4, Masha says, her mother stabbed her in the back of her neck during a drinking binge. She doesn't remember her father, and says her mother was an alcoholic. Masha was born in a small, industrial city in southern Russia.
'He took away five years of my life that I could never get back.' 'It's like he stole my childhood,' the young girl, Masha, said.
