In the 1990’s, our founder Andy Baker found himself sitting on a tour bus next to a young Romanian gentleman named Mircea Toca. Mircea asked Andy a surprising question, “would you like to see my 16 children?” Andy was in disbelief and thought, how could this young man have 16 children? Mircea began to show Andy pictures of the children he had adopted, and then did something even more surprising— He invited Andy to meet them.
The next year, Andy and his wife traveled to Romania to visit Mircea. He introduced the couple to two groups of children: the kids he had adopted, and the kids in the government facilities. It was a huge change to move from the wonderful home that Mircea and his wife were leading with the children they had adopted, to the government facilities where children had been left and simply forgotten, living in horrific living conditions and suffering from neglect. Andy and his wife were deeply moved, and knew they had to do something. As Andy finished his trip, Mircea hugged him and gave him a three-word challenge, “remember the children.”
As a response, Andy founded Remember the Children in 1996. Over the last 21 years, we have remembered the children of that fateful trip by ministering to the orphaned and forgotten in Romania. We have provided resources, built homes and churches, ministered through acts of kindness, trained leaders, and advocated for the voiceless.
In 2017, Mircea approached Andy once more. He said, “Andy, I am 48 years old and all my children are grown and on their own. I still have the desire to keep going. I believe I need to take my experience and go to Africa.” We are now working with the orphaned in Tanzania, and 36 children have a forever home thanks to the challenge to “remember the children.” The Tanzania ministry is known as Eternal Families.
We believe that local leaders have the most impact in their communities, therefore we are committed to mentoring and empowering them to make a difference. This mission affects everything we do — from mentoring the orphaned children we take care of, empowering church leaders, and pouring into villages.
