A Day to Pray

Zhi Yi Saw

At 8:25a, A-block, students from all over the school diverged from their path to their regularly scheduled classes, and all collected in the Harbour. It was time to pray.

On 12 February 2019, many Christian schools all around the world prayed for various people groups. Dalat was among them. All students met on the Deck and then received a slip with a group of people written, in which these particular students were supposed to pray for. Such a group, for example, were refugees. Announcers instructed the students what they were doing and why. A moment of silence for fifteen minutes was given to pray. After that, the students departed for their regular A-block classes.

Dalat is filled with well-off, fortunate souls, but this isn’t the truth for the entire planet. With such prosperity concentrated in one place, it was a logical conclusion for the people to give something back. Even if students are to be too busy or uninfluential on the global stage, they can at least pray for the unfortunate of the world. Another reason for events like this is to feel more connected with one another and those in society, along with the other Christian schools united around the world who were participating in this single effort.

Such an activity allowed most school students to at least help—or at least think about—the sufferers of the world, with relatively little effort.

Many of the students generally felt that the prayer achieved something, like Xu An Lim (12) who said, “Honestly, I feel great that people in the school get to pray for the various people groups around the world.”

Another such local student, Alex Shing (12), felt that the universal day of prayer better connected our own society with many others around the world. He said, "It was inspirational in that we were able to connect to the community around us and that the Christian association we are a part of is able to impact the wider community, thereby carrying out God's will."

As children, we may feel like we are unable to help others around the world, but as evident through this experience, we can help by being aware and praying.