A kitchen is a place for food preparation, and a space for entertainment. In rural Honduras, however, a school kitchen is a deciding factor in breaking the cycle of poverty.

This blog post is a tribute to the late Gerard E. de Jong, who with members of the Messiah Lutheran Church in Madison, Alabama, USA raised funds for Lunches for Learning Program and eventually made it possible for Benito Montoya School in the rural community of El Barrial, Honduras to have new buildings and a new kitchen.

We first met Gerard de Jong in Nashville, Tennessee in 2010. Gerard with Meggy, his lovely daughter, and Anita his wife, a university friend whom we have not met for decades, drove for two hours from Alabama to meet us.

Sadly, Gerard passed away suddenly in February of this year. Still in mourning a few weeks after, Anita had a long talk with us, reminiscing about the lovely meeting in Nashville and eventually about Gerard’s wish for Benito Montoya School to have a new kitchen.

We asked Anita a lot of questions about the school and what Gerard had in mind. She responded through beautiful writings that created this inspirational blog post.

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Lunches for Learning (L4L)  is a non-profit organization with a mission to break the cycle of poverty in rural Honduras by providing a healthy lunch to elementary school children every school day at their school, Their works are based on the idea that if nutritious lunches at school could be provided, then children who were often forced to skip school to look for food would, instead, choose to attend school. These children will be able to stay in school so they can complete the sixth grade and enter the workforce as literate individuals.

Statistics show that a child who earns a sixth grade education has hope for breaking the cycle of poverty because they learn basic reading, writing and math skills that open future doors.

The Messiah Lutheran Church has sponsored school children’s lunch meals in the rural community of El Barrial, Honduras through the L4L mission for over six years. Members made and donated crafts, shopped or worked at the annual Handmade Market, made tacos or ate tacos at the spring taco lunch, designated offerings to L4L and prayed. The church took up the challenge of raising money specifically for the kitchen at the beginning of this year.

"Gerard loved children and was always nice to little strangers we met everywhere. Children adored him. He was always interested in empowering children to be independent in almost every aspect of life. Gerard was touched by the fact that in El Barrial, if children can finish elementary school, they can make a lot of changes in the family economy, and society. After attending a presentation about Lunches for Learning, Gerard was fired up to do something to help."

Gerard and Anita began to donate some funds designated to L4L as part of their weekly offering. Gerard, who by then work for Bentley System Inc., a software company, knew that the company has a good program where each employee is entitled to get $250 annually and donate the money to society in support of education.

Gerard approached the company administration to find out whether the program would honor mission work like Lunches for Learning. He was informed that although L4L is related to education, the company is more into supporting the hardware of education.

After a lengthy discussion with the school and following company policy, funding was secured to construct a decent kindergarten building since that was what the school needed most. It was named after Gerard. Eventually the company and its employers supported the people in El Barrial, Honduras with several school buildings and water tower.

In the kindergarten's present location there used to be an old room, used as a kitchen to prepare lunch for school children. It was taken down several years ago to give space for the kindergarten. Since then the school did not have any kitchen. Actually a school kitchen will make it possible to prepare meals onsite for the students. Lunch is a major incentive for the children to stay in school. It is free, paid for by Messiah Lutheran Church and the Lunches for Learning mission that coordinates the effort.

A kitchen is necessary, but a kindergarten is a priority since for a long time learning has been conducted outdoor, or in another place, which makes it difficult for proper education. A kitchen will relieve the burden of mothers having to prepare meals at home and carry them to school by walking at least 5 miles daily. Hence, building a new kitchen at Robert Montoya School is the goal of L4L and the members of Messiah Lutheran Church who took up the challenge of raising money specifically for building a kitchen.

"Gerard enjoyed cooking while I was never able to be on par his cooking skills, especially in preparing dishes such as grilled salmon, lasagna; Dutch pancakes (pannekoeken), baby pancakes (poffertjes), mashed potatoes; boerenkool (mashed potato-flowering kale), and croissants.

He loved many Indonesian foods more than Dutch foods. When asked what should I prepare for dinner? Indonesian or Dutch/European, the answer was always Indonesian. His favorites were soto ayam (traditional chicken soup), rendang (caramelized beef curry), sate ayam (chicken satay), nasi goreng (fried rice), gado-gado (boiled mixed vegetables with spicy peanut sauce), tumis bayam (sautee spinach), sambal goreng telor (hot spicey eggs), and cap cay (stir-fry mixed vegetables). He cherished kue nastar (pineapple-filled cookies) and lapis legit (Indonesian spice-mix layered cake)."

Two weeks before Gerard passed away, in the middle of the night, he talked to Anita about how he really wanted to make the kitchen project going at Benito Montoya School. They had quite a lengthy discussion. Since Gerard is an architect, and Anita is an urban planner, it was a familiar topic for them.

"I knew that the church had started raising funds to build a new kitchen and asked Gerard: “Where are we now in the process of making it happen?” He said: “We don't have the money yet. We are still busy fundraising.” He looked very worried that night and was really concerned about the burden carried by mothers at El Barrial who had to prepare their children's lunches, far away from the school."

Several days after Gerard died on February 10, Messiah’s Pastor asked Anita for some ideas for a Memorial Service at the church. Her response was that In lieu of flowers, Gerard’s family requests memorials be given to the Lunches for Learning mission to school children in rural Honduras.

The people of El Barrial knew what they needed and how the kitchen should be. The church would give monetary donation, and the rest of the work would be carried out by the local people. Starting from the design, where to get the building materials, how to get them to the construction site, the construction works and the finishing were all completed by parents of students and local people who work hard for the education of their children.

About two months ago, the Pastor told Anita that funds collected have reached the amount needed for the kitchen, but the project leader has called and conveyed that the project cost is more than the estimated amount. Messiah Lutheran Church is $3000 short from the total cost needed. There might be a delay in completing the kitchen construction.

“Unexpectedly Pastor found out that there is some money in The Gerard Memorial account, a little over $3000. Finally there was enough money to complete the kitchen construction. I said to Pastor: “What a coincidence!” He answered: “There is no coincidence. This was meant to be. Until the last day, Gerard was still working for what he loved: the children and their education.”

On Wednesday morning, July 6th, the Benito Montoya School, held a dedication and blessing ceremony for the new kitchen, led by Pastor Scott Peterson of the Messiah Lutheran Church with students, teachers, and families in attendance.

The foods, cooked in the newly dedicated kitchen included fried corn tortillas; with options of re-fried beans and cheese or fresh sliced cabbage, carrots, and tomatoes.

The new kitchen at Benito Montoya School is the spiritual legacy of Gerard E. de Jong. It is now a place for food preparation, and a space for entertainment that will help break the cycle of poverty in rural Honduras.

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Sources & Images: Anita de Jong-Siregar and Messiah Lutheran Church.

Text: Omar Niode Foundation.