Bersama Sama

In the Bible, the disciple John had a vision of the future “when a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:9-10)

We want Dalat to be a place where people from every language and nation feel welcome and included. Based on our observations and data collected from students and parents, we still have a long way to go in reaching this vision. Our community is very diverse, but we do not always push beyond our own boundaries to develop personal relationships with people from different backgrounds.

We intentionally chose the theme this year to reflect two important languages in our community. English is the language of instruction at Dalat, and Bahasa Melayu is the language of the country in which we all live. We have many people in our community who speak far more languages, and we want to find ways to include each of you.

We all want to belong to our community for support, friendships, and a sense of well-being. However, we also need to remember that we each also have responsibilities within the community to help others feel that sense of belonging. As we establish new routines and habits in these first weeks of school, I encourage each of us to expand our circle of friends and intentionally reach out to those in our community from a different language or cultural group. That’s how we can make this vision a reality.