A moving blog

It's been in the pipeline for some months now, but finally I can reveal the big secret...

Blue Dragon is moving!

We've been in our current location, Lane 131, for just over 2 years, but we outgrew it in the first 12 months.

To make up for our rapid growth, we rented a second building... and then a third... and then a fourth. So at the moment, Blue Dragon is spread out over 4 buildings up and down our lane.

There are lots of problems with this, as you can imagine. Safety is a big one: our kids have to walk up and down the street from service to service. There's always a construction site somewhere on the street, and our neighbours are health hazards in themselves. (One of our boys, Nghia, likes to take my smaller dog Bear for a walk each day. One of the neighbours comes running out to attack them every time he sees them! No reason, just likes to get the futility of his own existence off his chest by beating up a child).

For the staff, communication has been an ongoing difficulty. With the team spread out over 4 buildings, getting messages through to everyone has not been easy.

And then there are the challenges of dealing with four landlords...

Our new center should simplify all that. We have taken out the rent on a 4 storey building that's deep and wide enough to consolidate all of our 4 current buildings. Some renovations have been needed, though, and the owners were good enough to let us do some pretty major work on their home. We've removed a staircase, knocked down walls, taken out their kitchen, built new rooms, repainted, created a new electrical system, and enclosed the balconeys to make the rooms larger.

The building work is almost finished - it's been going on for some weeks now. It's been expensive, of course, but all the renovation work is being paid for by the Schmitz Foundation in Germany. This means we don't have to use any of our general funds to pay for the building work. The final result will be a huge drop in center, with classrooms upstairs, a proper kitchen and dining hall, and all staff and services together in one building.

We're expecting that this new center will be our permanent home. It's too disruptive for the kids if we move often, so if all goes well we will be in our new home for many years to come.

I'll post some pictures soon!