Over 700,000 children in Russia do not have parents to love them. A project introducing so-called “foster villages” to the country is trying to change this.

Fifteen years ago Vera Egorova decided to make motherhood her profession, and has not looked back since.

“I’ve always wanted a big family,” Vera told RT. “Some of the children I cared for are now married and have kids of their own – so as well as being a happy mother, I’m a happy grandmother, too. And when we all gather here for family holidays, 30 people sit down together. All my dreams have come true.”

Vera is taking part in an international child charity called SOS Children’s Villages. Founded in 1949 in Austria to help children who lost their families during World War II, it now operates in more than 100 countries around the globe.

The idea is to provide an alternative to orphanages by building villages where children without parental care are offered a loving home, growing up with full-time SOS foster parents.

Vera now cares for seven children. Lubov Shashilova, 15, is one of them.

“It was me who picked Vera,” Shashilova, a resident of the village, told RT. “Vera means ‘faith’ and my name, Lubov, means ‘love,’ and I thought faith and love would go well together. It’s a real family that I have. Sometimes we fight, of course – but I’m so glad to be here.”

The project came to Russia 15 years ago. There are now five Children’s Villages across the country, with the sixth in the making.

Tomilino, in the suburb of Moscow, was Russia’s first Children’s Village. Eleven family houses are home to 50 children aged 5 to 16 years old. They are fully integrated into the local community, attending local kindergartens and schools.

“What’s most important about this project is that it gives back to orphans something they’ve lost – a mother’s love, a home, a family with brothers and sisters. Here, everything’s for real,” Anatoly Vasiliev, director of SOS Children’s Village Tomilino, told RT.

The village is proud of its success, but when it comes to orphans in Russia, statistics are grim. Russia now has 700,000 orphans, according to figures collected by the lower chamber of the Russian parliament. This is more than during World War II, and the number is growing every year.

Most of them are children who have been either given up by their parents or removed from dysfunctional homes by the authorities. Those who work in Tomilino admit that compared to these figures, their efforts are just a drop in the ocean. Still, everyone there hopes that the project will continue to grow, offering more and more Russian orphans a chance at a happy family life.