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Western women in the Siberian city of Perm are hunting under buildings, under stairways, under ground as if for lost cats or dogs.

"When we first came they had not been inside in so long. They came to us acting like animals." They are hunting for children, and in the city's cracks and corners, children are not hard to find. Children like Kostian who has been stabbed three times on the street; or Jan who has been raped five times. There may be two million homeless children in Russia, the government says, there may be four million. No one knows for sure. In Perm, as in many Russian cities, it is a problem left untouched by the local authorities.

"We came to Perm and asked the administration, 'Is there anyone here helping out?' They said, 'No, no one.' "

Christina Greenberg rented an apartment with her own money, plus a few thousands dollars from corporate sponsors, and opened a shelter. The city offered some help at first by providing transportation.

"Of the fourteen children who live here, thirteen tried to commit suicide." The stories are remarkably similar: "My stepfather beat me. He used to beat me so much."

Seventeen year old Vanya's story may be even worse. His head shakes and his eyes kind of move back and forth. I asked the other kids why, and they said that his mom committed suicide in front of him when he was one and a half. She hung herself on the curtains and just put him on the bed to watch.

"After that I knew I had to help him. He is not just a little demon. There is a reason why he is like this."

There's a reason why a child prefers a store roof to home. A reason why he sniffs glue, paint thinner or gasoline. A reason why at the market where he begs and steals he is universally despised.

"People just hit them. Someone in some stand just hit them because they see they are homeless. One of the first times we were feeding them in the market, about three years ago, the police started yelling and yelling at us. 'How dare you feed these kids! They're just rats, they are criminals. Why would anyone want to feed them?!' "

Why too, would anyone hug them, kiss them, try to make them smile, not for a photo-op, but for five long years. "I felt that God has led me to these kids. But I felt once I started working with them, I couldn't just leave them on the streets. I knew if we didn't do something, nobody would. So it was basically a question between life and death. Every kid that moves on, we save a life."

Lifesavers, a job that did not exist in Perm before Christina Greenberg, may now be the one hope for some Siberian children to come in from the wild.

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