Cast of Characters cont....

Just the Facts....

Diane Olmen & Andrei Volkov

In 1988, Diane Olmen, as the Executive Director of the League of Chicago Theatres, was invited to Moscow Russia to begin a three-year exchange of theatre artists, directors, set designers and costume designers between the USA and Russian theatre communities.

This resulted in the exchange of many plays and exchange of over 400 artists within USA and Russia.  It also resulted in the Baikal/Great Lakes Theatre and Environmental Festival held on the shores of Lake Baikal – the largest, deepest, purist lake on earth holding 22% of the world’s fresh water.

Andrei Volkov was born in the Buryat Mountain range between Mongolia and Russia. He attended high school in Mongolia and worked in the 1980’s with most of the current administrations of both countries

Since meeting and moving to the USA in 1994, Andrei and Diane continued to live in both areas about 5-6 months per year.  The professional and governmental colleagues know that Andrei is their son and that his commitment is to the Baikal Region.

After this widely-publicized Theatre Festival within the former USSR, Andrei and Diane continued to concentrate their exchanges within the Republic of Buryatia and Mongolia (the watershed area of the Baikal Region).  They began to expand the interchange of colleagues to include a 3 year Environmental Exchange with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and an 14-year Medical Exchange with the Ministry Corporation/St. Mary’s Hospitals  

In 1997 with the understanding that the needs of mother, child and families continue to be addressed, they began to work on International Adoptions in Russia.

In 2002, after working with the Mongolian Ministries on helping them establish a process of Birth and Death certificates, Certificates of Adoptions and a system of processing orphans, they began facilitating adoptions in Mongolia.

The rest of the story... Andrei and Diane married in 1994. I met them first when we were in the  process of adopting Jack. Diane and Andrei have worked to bring home over 200 children from the Baikal Region of Siberia and Mongolia to very grateful families in  the US. Their tireless devotion , unending patience and very large hearts made them an awesome team! I knew the minute I met them that they would become very important people in my life and they have! I consider myself blessed to have them in my life! Although they are not adoptive parents, their commitment to orphaned children is second to none.

Andrei has been in Russia on business and Diane is flying over on Friday as we all rendezvous in Moscow.