Johannes van der Steur left the Netherlands on September 10, 1892. As a missionary, his task in Indonesia started with spiritual activities in the Dutch army barracks at Magelang, a small town in Central Java.
Johannes arrived in Indonesia without any possessions. All he had was his faith in God and his strong desire to help his needy fellow human beings. Due to this desire, he immediately accepted the challenge of caring for four neglected children. That he would be able eventually to set up a large family consisting of various ethnic groups and nationalities numbering thousands of children in a decent place, certainly did not occur to him when he started his work and his service. With his extraordinary will, power and dedication, he kept working constantly until the end of his life which came at the age of 80.
On arrival in Indonesia, he selected Magelang as a place to work. At first he worked in the Dutch army barracks. Everyday he put tractaten on the beds of the Dutch soldiers; these were leaflets containing short reflections on verses of the Bible. From here on, possibly without being aware of it, Johannes started his great work for his fellow human beings.
One day, a drunken Dutch soldier came to him. The soldier pleaded with Johannes to take care of four children of a friend who lived in a poor kampung (village). Without hesitation Johannes went with the soldier to the kampung where the four children lived with their mother. There upon Johannes took the four children with him to his house, although he had no funds whatsoever with which to take care of them.
One day the four children asked Johannes: "What shall we call you?" Johannes answered: "Call me whatever you like." They decided to call him Pa, short for Papa. From then on he was known as Pa van der Steur.
At that time Johannes, who was 27 years old, and still a bachelor, became the father of four children who were not his own. He accommodated them in a house made of bamboo wickerwork (gedeg) and called the house Oranje Nassau. Eventually this name was used for the Orphanage. Beginning with these four children in the bamboo house, Johannes started the work that made him a father to thousands of children in the future. The number of Pa van der Steur's children rapidly increased from 4 to 6, and then to 11 and so on.
The first years were very difficult, especially because he worked on his own. He did the cooking himself, and even sewed the children's clothes. Fortunately there were soldiers who often helped him by washing, sewing clothes or playing with the children.
The number of pupils increased rapidly and by 1895 had grown to 40. The house they had lived in up to now had become too small, and he was compelled to rent three additional houses in the center of Magelang in order to accommodate them. But the children kept growing in number, so that in less than four years those rented houses were no longer large enough for all the children, and he had to look for a still larger place. Luckily in 1902, at Pa's request, the Resident gave permission to use the former barracks of the Military Corps on a lend use basis. Pa van der Steur bought this building later on. The problem of accommodation was settled, but there were still many difficulties that needed to be surmounted.
In order to fulfill the need for food and clothing for the children, sometimes Pa was forced to sell his own property, including his ring, watch etc. Starting in 1892 he got a subsidy from the Dutch Government to the amount of Nfl 100 every month. But what did this sum mean in comparison with the needs of the hundreds of children? But the work went on, even though new difficulties and obstacles never ceased to arise.
In 1902 Pa fell ill and had to be taken to hospital. The situation worsened when on doctor's advice, he had to undergo therapy in the Netherlands.
On May 13, 1903 Pa with a heavy heart, left the 350 children he loved so dearly to go back to the Netherlands. While he was away, he entrusted his work to his brother Gijsbert van der Steur, for whom of course the work was very difficult.
During his stay in Holland he received a donation of 20.000 guilders from Queen Emma.
Pa left the Netherlands on August 11, 1903 after receiving letters from his children telling about conditions in the Orphanage. He arrived in Indonesia on the 6th of September 1902. From that time on he never again saw his native country.
Conditions in Oranje Nassau had become difficult, especially in the girls dormitory. Pa needed a woman who could assist him in carrying out his work and who could play the part of a mother to her pupils.
The women to take on this task was Anna Maria Zwager (now known as Mother van der Steur). Pa and Moe van der Steur got married on the 4th of April 1907. It turned out that Anna Maria was the ideal woman for the task, and she worked at it for 29 years, until her death in 1936 by which time the orphanage had 1000 children under its care.
The number of children taken care of by Pa had increased very rapidly. While at the start, in 1892 four children were cared for, by 1895 the number had grown to 50, and a year later there were 65 children. In 1929 the number of pupils had reached 900 and by around 1941 the number had swelled to 1100.
With the number of children now well over a thousand, the Oranje Nassau had become an unusually large concern. Its premises covered around 5 hectares, situated beside the highway at Magelang, next to the Resident's office. It was divided into three parts: a boys dormitory, a girls dormitory, and a special dormitory for children of less than 10 years old.
In 1942 the Japanese occupied Indonesia. Conditions became more and more difficult. This naturally greatly affected the situation at Oranje Nassau with its 1100 children. We can hardly imagine how heavy Pa's responsibility was. At this time, it was hard to find even a morsel of rice and many people died of hunger.
The situation at Oranje Nassau deteriorated when the Japanese army put Pa in prison. The children's great love for Pa was shown when the Japanese soldiers came to Oranje Nassau to take him away. The small ones and the girls tried to keep Pa from going by holding his hands or feet while crying. The more mature tried to withhold the Japanese soldiers at great risk to themselves. It was only because Pa managed to restrain the children that the Japanese soldiers succeeded in taking him away.
For almost 2 years Pa was separated from his children and was transfered from one prison to another in Magelang, Cimahi and Semarang. Few people know how the 78 year old Pa suffered during these years. But it is certain that Pa not only suffered physically but also spiritually because he was parted from the thousands of children who needed his help.
Shortly after Independence at the beginning of September 1945, Pa, whose physical condition had deteriorated greatly because of ageing and illness, was taken back to Oranje Nassau by some of his children.
On Sunday, 16 September 1945 Pa departed this life.
Pa's career was marked by struggle and hardship, but his life had been a blessing for many people. Pa had gone to his final rest. His legacy consists of his spirit and the work he pioneered. In keeping with his testament "Not Pa's name but his work was to be perpetuated by his children."
In 1949 the children of Pa van der Steur, due to the increasingly difficult situation at that time, had to leave Magelang for Jakarta. The impression was created that the work of Pa van der Steur in Indonesia no longer existed.
Difficult years came one after another, until in the 1950s some Oud Steurtjes, headed by Bram Bernard, were asked to sit on the Executive Board, in order to complement it, in the hope that they could do something to improve the deteriorating conditions of the Orphanage.
Bram's involvement in Pa van der Steur's work was actually nothing new. Since the time Pa had managed the work directly, Bram had often worked to help smoothen the work of Oranje Nassau. Due to his involvement, Bram was imprisoned by the Japanese with Pa for three months. After Pa's death, Bram's involvement in the work of Oranje Nassau never ceased.
Many parties gave their help and time, so that conditions at the Pa van der Steur Foundation were gradually improved. At a meeting of the Executive Board in March 1972, it decided to build a new compound that could accommodate all the children. The members of the Board spontaneously collected a sum of money amounting to Rp. 63.000,-. If one considered the situation of the Foundation as well as the available capital, the aforementioned building plan could be called unfeasible.
In the midst of the diligent efforts of the Board, God showed His love. Through Mrs. Van Beversluis, head of the Pa van der Steur Foundation in Zeist, the Netherlands, God opened up a way for the Board to fulfill their aspirations. During her visit to Indonesia she pledged her support if whatever she saw at the Pa van der Steur Foundation was quite satisfactory.
The tireless efforts and endeavours yielded results that were quite beyond expectation. In August 1973 the Board succeeded in purchasing a piece of land of two hectares at Pondok Gede.
After succeeding in acquiring this land, the next step was to construct and equip a building for the children. By August 1975 a dormitory for boys was ready for use and was able to accommodate 150 boys. Construction was continued by building the main kitchen, warehouses, and rooms for the servants. After this a girls dorm was built, which also consisted of two storeys.
On the ground floor there was a large hall which not only served as a dining hall but could also be used for other purposes e.g. for receiving visitors and for studying. There was also a terrace that was used as a playground for the children.
In 1979 the entire structure to be used as a residence for the children was completed. The boys as well as the girls from Kindergarten to Senior High School age could all be accommodated at Pondok Gede which meant that the aspirations of the Executive Board, namely to build a place for the children in a compound, had now been fulfilled. The children were then able to live in a decent dorm in a fresh and breezy region, enabling them also to play safely to their heart's content.
When the construction of the children's dormitory had been completed, Pondok Gede became increasingly busy as the population grew due to the many new houses that were being built. This development came to the attention of the Executive Board. Among the important requirements for the new population were educational institutions or schools. As they felt prompted to help the Government in providing educational establishments, the Board decided to erect an Elementary School.
The ground was broken for the Elementary School building on August 11, 1979 and its inauguration took place on May 29, 1980. The building, with seven class rooms and one office was used for the first time in the curricular year of 1980/1981. As the number of pupils grew rapidly, a few years later two class rooms were added, as was an office for the School Principal.
Two years after the Elementary School had got underway, the Foundation opened a Junior High School and a Kindergarten. On April 3, 1983, the Junior High School building was inaugurated. This building consisted of six rooms along with one office for the school director and teachers. There were also sport facilities, such as a field for basketball and volleyball, as well as a track and playing field.
Two years later it was equipped with a laboratory and library. After the building of the Junior High School had been finished, the attention of the Board was drawn to the dormitory at Depok which at that time was still inhabited by some of the boys of the Senior High School.
Considering that the dormitory was not in a condition to undergo renovation, the Foundation decided to tear the whole building down. Meanwhile the Executive Board considered a new idea, namely to utilize the structure to be built for extending the work of the Foundation. Finally it was decided to set up a Home for the Aged and the male students of the Senior High School were moved to the boys dorm at Pondok Gede.
After the Home for the Aged had been opened, the Board complemented the school facilities at Pondok Gede by building an auditorium in 1987. The shape of the auditorium was a replica of the church in Magelang that had been erected by Pa. During daily activities this building was utilized for extra curricular pursuits and school festivities.
With God's blessings, the Foundation Board's determination to complete the provision of services and equipment and to develop Pa van der Steur's work had been realized.
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