BRIANNA BAXTER
Staff Writer
It has only been six months since Professor Andrei Duta set foot in Malibu, Calif., but the impact he has made on the world began a long time ago. His non-profit organization “His Little Ones” has captured the hearts of people throughout the nation and is quickly capturing our hearts here at Pepperdine.
Professor Duta spent his childhood in communist Romania where his story beings. It is a story that soon just might touch thousands of lives. When he was a young boy, his mother gave him a Bible. She had received the Bible from a missionary who was sneaking in Bibles to share the Christian faith. She told Andrei it was “a good book,” and he should read it. That is exactly what Andrei did—until he reached Leviticus.
He put the Bible down, and didn’t pick it up again until another missionary came to Romania with “Let’s Start Talking.” Andrei’s mother took him and his sister to talk to the man, but they were both turned away because of their lack of English.
However, for some divine reason, Andrei believes he just could not take no for an answer. The program director saw their determination and decided to let them in the program. Through a French translator, an English professor and Andrei and his sister who spoke only Romanian, the two learned English in only four weeks. Then Andrei, his sister, mother and father all accepted Christ, and the blessings have been never ending ever since.
Since then, Andrei has begun his Christian walk in the United States. Just last year, Andrei finished his doctorate degree at Texas A&M University. Full of intellect and a passion for learning, Andrei is putting the finishing touches on his own book about non-profit organizations.
After obtaining his doctorate degree, Duta went on a search to find a university to teach young students. Andrei said it was the Lord who brought him to Pepperdine. It was his very last interview, but “the best.” The mission statement of Pepperdine was the best fit. Although it is the Christian atmosphere that drew him to Pepperdine University, Andrei admitted, “The location is a plus.” He calls himself a “Texafornian.” He loves College Station, Texas, but he believes he was “made for California and California was made for him.”
The students Duta has encountered during his short time at Pepperdine have been his favorite part of being here in Malibu. He calls these amazing, driven students, “his champions.” His passion to help grow these students not only intellectually, but in their faith with God is amazing.
Lauren Thompson, a junior at Pepperdine, and Andrei’s research assistant, said, “he is the epitome of selfless. He is so about everyone else but himself.” Thompson is humbled by the opportunity to help Professor Duta with his new book on non-profit organizations. “He is opening so many doors for me.”
But Andrei Duta is not only opening doors for students at Pepperdine, with the start of his non-profit organization His Little Ones, he is opening doors all over the world.
Due began His Little Ones in 2001. This organization is his “journey to close down the orphanages in Romania.”
In Romania there are more than 100,000 orphans. The former dictator of Romania banned all contraceptives and forced women to have five children. Due to the low economy of Romania, parents weren’t able to care for their own children, which spiraled into a huge problem of abandoned children.
Adoptions in Romania have been closed since June of 2004. Andrei hopes they will reopen soon. But for now, His Little Ones sponsors four orphanages in Romania and around 200 children. His Little Ones is different from most charities. 100 percent of proceeds go to the children. All other expenses are paid out of pocket by Duta and his board of directors.
Donations go to helping the children with providing the children medical attention, tutoring, school supplies, Bible studies, food, clothes, beds, shoes, and even birthday celebrations.
“Some of these kids don’t even know when their birthday is,” says Andrei. “Their entrance into this world has never been celebrated.”
His Little Ones sponsors four orphanages in Bucharest, Romania. They help anyone from infants, children with disabilities to children with drug problems.
Andrei and his team, “dream of a tomorrow when all orphanages in Romania will be closed down because all orphans will be adopted by loving families. Today, and until that day, we seek to improve the quality of these precious children’s lives by providing for their mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual needs.”
This summer, Duta is taking six of whom he calls his “champion students” to Romania for 17 days to work hand-in-hand with the orphans. His research assistant Lauren Thompson, Amy Nightengale, Krista Taylor, Sarah Carter, Linda Ehlig will be sacrificing the comforts of American to pour out their hearts to the Romanian orphans.
These students are part of a club convocation taught by Duta every Sunday. They are not only filling their hearts with the love of Christ, but they are filling their minds with the basics of the Romanian language to guide them this summer.
“He is one of the busiest people I know,” says Thompson. “He doesn’t even know what to do in his free time.” But Professor Andrei Duta is busy changing lives.
04-17-2008
