Exchanging Money

Exchanging money is SUPER easy if you do it the right way.
Make sure your US dollars are CRISP. Go to the hotel Lobby in the morning and ask to exchange. For a typical day, I would take a crisp $100 and get that exchanged. It was my way of pacing myself. What I didn't spend could roll over to the next day. I tend to go a little overboard with the shopping. I did all but one exchange at the hotel. They might not understand everything you say but they understand 'exhange", expected crisp money and sometimes you have to sign for the exchange...but not always...not sure about that. The Victory has a limit on the $ they can exchange per day. If you show up at 7pm...they might be all out. Best BET...always exchange bright and early. Now, my daughter was adopted in Guangzhou and I was told my donation would be accepted in US dollars. There I stood with my new daughter in my arms attempting to hand them our donation in US dollars and they refused. It needed to be exchanged. There is a bank of the first floor of the building we were in. It took our group ALMOST TWO HOURS to get their exchange...and two hours only because rumor had it that our guide went down and flipped out in the bank. Then...my best friend who took my money went last because she wanted the men to be able to get up their with their new children...she figured I would understand (I did, completely) anyway. After then men left, they decided to deny her money. Once again, we had to go get our guide...my friend REFUSED to leave the cash window...she's a stubborn little blonde girl...funny when you look back...painful when you relive it. This could have ALL BEEN AVOIDED. Banks take a HORRENDOUS amount of time. I don't know what the solution is to the donation exchange... just do it ahead of time so you can focus on your child on THAT DAY!

SWI Gifts

So for my gifts to the orphanage I purchased American Perfumes like White Diamonds by Elizabeth Taylor. I plan to put perfumes, nailpolish, mini jelly belly's & M&M's in these little personalized bags. Then I will put them in red gift bags with gold tissue paper. I have other gifts for the others but these are more personalized for the nannies.

Above is Giorgia on one side
Above is Mama in G's Bedroom on the other side.

Half the Sky at G's Orphanage

While searching the internet to find more about where G is right now I came across this photo. It is a real photo of the very same orphange. Please click on the photo to see the entire pdf. Page 8 is all about one family who adopted a little girl from the same orphanage years ago.

"The orphanage staff clearly cared so much for the babies there, but were also very limited in their resources and what they could do."

"The orphanage is clean but sterile and devoid of toys and playroom." This was I believe in 2001-2002.

This family has since funded an infant nurture center with the help of Half the Sky. I also believe that since then others have funded a playground, garden and a small preschool.

Note: Most cribs metal and are lined up this way. Most are only lined with straw mats. There is no heat/ac in the orphanage. The one plus is that is right on the South China Sea so heat is usually not an issue. I know that it gets hot there. It's temperatures match those of Cuba's. I did notice that most everything is tiled so that should help with the hot summer temperatures!

***I just read in another HTS update that Guangdong Provincial Civil Affairs authorities had unexpectedly withdrawn permission for HTS builds here. I am not sure if an infant nuture center was ever completed. However, I do know they DID get a playground and garden.***

They have a Library!

G's Orphanage was also a recipient of a Great Wall Library of Love. The children now have access to education and a place for them to read, learn, and to attend classes.

Donated with love from the Belden family.

Orphanage Donations

Here is some research that I found regarding Orphanage Donations. I’ve read that some families like to give another donation if they get a chance to visit the orphanage. Please feel free to comment on my info below.
*I had heard that the orphanages wouldn't use medical supplies unless they included a Chinese translation of the directions.
*Things like character bandaids, cotton balls, q-tips, toothbrushes would probably work but you might want to avoid anything that requires dosing or could cause a problem if given incorrectly. I'd look for packaging that has pictures on the container (not just the box). You wouldn't want someone brushing their teeth with diaper rash cream.
*Cleft bottles are NOT AVAILABLE IN China anywhere. Mead Johnson Bottles-800-222-9123
*Some families said that on one of their trips, they went to the market around the corner from their hotel and purchased infant and children's Tylenol as well as some Chinese medicine for diarrhea and colds. Since they were buying it in China, they were getting more for their money and the products were those that the Chinese could understand. Just have your guide check expiration dates on the boxes. The guides say that the orphanage workers feel more comfortable using medicine that is already in Chinese than medicine that is American and has a translation with it.
*Diaper creams, hairbrushes, combs, toothbrushes, toothpaste.

Orphanage Visit Etiquette

Chinese values social properness and not as much on appearance.

It is proper to take a gift. Maybe you could present box of chocolates.

If you want to invite the orphanage director to lunch, it is proper to invite others in the meeting with you, usually one or two of the director's assistances.

If you want to invite a caregiver to join you at meal, you should extend the invitation through the director to show him the respect his position merits.

Always make sure to be modest and gentle.

Orphanage Children’s gives could be a lollipop or small school supplies you could buy in China,

Don’t want children to feel as sense of envy or self-pity.

I have read that "Many parents also wonder how their children handle the orphanage visits. As long as the visit is not done immediately upon your arrival, when everyone is jetlagged and culture shocked, my observation is that children are less sensitive than their parents perceive them to be."

Gifts to SWI's Part II

Yet another post from an APCer (I have shortened it a little)...

"The only thing I would caution about up front is, don't give or buy cheap items (I've been told that some people give samples of AVON lipsticks, or the free giveaways of perfume from department stores as gifts... which shows a disregard for the SWI directors and caregivers... they have taken care of your child for the last "X" number of months/years - and now is the time to actually show your appreciation of their care. Items they would appreciate:

Cd's of current popular (hip hop, popular, country, or classical)
NICE cosmetics
DO NOT give samples or cheap cosmetics.
College logo (t-shirts, nice ink pens & refills, good stationery, etc.)
Hometown items
Nice soaps and fragrant lotions. The Chinese Love fragrance...
Nice perfume/cologne.
Very nice costume jewelry, such as Trifari, Monet, Napier, etc.

Some DON'T's are:
NO sample sizes - considered to be insulting.
NO green hat to a man - signifies his wife is having an affair.
NO clocks or watches - represents death

NO candles - signifies a wish that their home will burn down.
NO gift that is white or black in color. These colors have negative connotations (such as white is the color worn at funerals)."

Gifts to SWI's

This is part of a post from an APCer. I thought it was interesting info on gift giving.

"...I wanted to share something I learned from our guide that I'd never read here before. She said that every time she goes to an orphanage the nanny’s pull her aside and show her a large pile of gifts that they don't know what to do with. She said usually these are lotions and they want her to translate the bottles for them.

Because they can't read the English on the bottle, they don't know what to do with them. Makes sense! If someone handed us a bottle of something white or pink and creamy andit was all written in Chinese we wouldn't know if it was body lotion or face lotion or soap for the shower. She had us all give her our gifts and she separated them into bags and labeled them so the nanny’s would know what they were.

She said the three most-appreciated gifts are: chocolate, cigarettes and perfume..."

Another APC poster said...

"We put a note on each gift bag, with our name, our child's Chinese name and referral picture and "Thank You" in Mandarin on each bag so that they knew who it was from. We found that they (orphanage workers) seemed to like cosmetics and nice body lotions (enough small samples for 10-12 people)-they did not seem to like cigarettes as a gift and chocolate melted (we travel in the summer and it was hot and humid). All our gifts went to the orphanage workers, we gave no gifts to "officials" and were told not to."