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Leena's story

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Leena was born in a little village in Estonia, to an Estonian mother and a Russian father. In her little village, from the time of her birth, everyone hated her father, not because he was mean, vile, or evil, but because he was Russian. When she was a baby, someone smashed their car's window. When she was one, someone burned down their house. Leena's parents feared for her life, so right before her second birthday, they sent her to her grandmother's house, closer to the border, where people were far more tolerant. Her parents hoped to have her return to them when the summer was done (her birthday was in April), but she never ended up returning home. When her mother left and went back to the village, she found that her husband had been shot -by the police! They claimed that he had been caught stealing, but in her heart of hearts, Leena's mother knew her husband would do no such thing. Alone in the world, she decided it was best to go collect her daughter, and then move to the UK or Canada, to forget all her pain. But on the drive back to her mother's house, she got into a car accident and died. No one knows what happened for sure, but the police ruled her responsible. Leena's grandma was heartbroken and died a few days later, after committing suicide, using sleeping pills. Before killing herself, she took Leena over to the neighbors and asked them to care for her. They thought the old lady meant to babysit her, but when she didn't come back after three days, they called the police. The police took the girl and put her into an orphanage where she lived until Maya and Dan adopted her.