Anyone who's visited Hot Springs will tell you it's a place of beauty.
We even have peacocks now! Not our own exactly, just a sauntering little flock of four wild birds that grace us with their stunning display as they calmly forage on the grounds.
Our little space is nestled away from the road where it's relatively quiet. There's a decent outdoor kitchen and eating space. A large meeting room. Kids can play and grow, safe and happy.
So why move?
We are currently situated on un-deeded land which is not
technically in compliance with Thai law regarding children’s welfare
homes. This is the land where the Korean Methodist denomination planted a church about twenty years ago. At that time, Suradet and Yupa, the founding pastors, soon discovered a match between some of the space they now had on the property and the pressing requests of Hill Tribe families to help them care for their children.
Today we are a registered Foundation with the Thai government who is aware of our situation and has allowed us to remain on our current property...for now. There is the expectation that we will continue to work toward compliance. Which is exactly what we are doing.
And then there's the indoor spaces.
True, most of life happens outdoors when you live in a place that's perpetually summer, more or less. But we do have to sleep somewhere, and study somewhere. And it's in the indoor spaces that we are most aware of how much the existing buildings on the current property have been 'retrofitted.'
We can do better for our children.
Over the next little while we will be busy bringing our cite plan and building blueprints up to standard so that we can both present them to Thai contractors, and show them to all of you! It's a tedious, careful process requiring interpretation necessary both in language and construction stipulations. A trip is in the works for January so Ken and I can both be there to sit down and map this out in real time right there on the new property, with all the pertinent people present.
While construction costs, like everything right now, are somewhat fluid, we estimate that we will need a total of $500,000.00 to complete all components of our New Home. We have retained a decent amount of seed money raised in the fall of 2023 which will help propel our efforts forward. Professional fundraising consultation is in the works. It's all coming together.
