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Posts Tagged ‘impact’

A Covid-19 update from our community

Sunday, October 18th, 2020

The past months have surely been among the most challenging times in the history of FairMail as a social enterprise, but most of all as a family.

Despite one of the earliest and strictest lockdowns in Latin America, the deep inequality of Peru’s health system, high levels of informal economic activity, and corruption have contributed to a massive loss of life and a severe economic crisis that will have repercussions for years ahead.

Daily reported cases fell in June and July to rise again in August to a point that a second lockdown was issued on August 29.
To comply with the restrictions imposed by the government FairMail stopped its activities for about 5 months and re-opened its doors in July and August. During the lockdown we maintained constant contact with the photographers and their families, and thanks to the generosity of many of you, we offered our support in the form of recurring donations of food and money throughout the quarantine.
Several family members of the photographers have contracted the virus and one of them has unfortunately passed away.

Going back to classes in the months of July and August required a complete readjustment in the way we carry out our photography sessions. The photographers were split into 3 small groups to limit exposure during classes, they came to the office with private cars instead of public transport, they always wore face masks and they disinfected every working station and object after use.

Despite the restrictions, the photographers have shown a great deal of enthusiasm, motivation and creativity and the result is an astounding collection of Christmas pictures that you can see here.

None of this would have been possible without the amazing work of our two local managers Angeles and Anidela, their great organizational and communication skills made it possible for FairMail to go through this harsh time.

Now we are back, and we really want to make up for all the time we have lost. We’re ready to create new memories and new fantastic pictures!

Tags: impact, Peru, Photographers, photography
Posted in FairMail | No Comments »

Kzanier invests his earnings in graphic design and Macbook

Wednesday, November 1st, 2017

Kzanier with his new Macbook

A great example of a teenager who is working well towards his goals is 17-year-old Kzanier from FairMail Peru. In September 2017 he started his second semester at the private ITN institute in Trujillo where he is studying a 3-year career in graphic design. With the Apple laptop he just bought from his FairMail money he is already better equipped than FairMail’s inhouse designer!

Getting up early

Kzanier started studying at the ITN in March 2017. It is regarded as one of the best private institutes in Northern Peru to study graphic design, with experienced teachers and up-to-date equipment. Combining his new studies with his classes at FairMail and his part-time job in a shoe shop, the first months weren’t easy for Kzanier. “What hit me most in the beginning was getting my schedule organised as I was also working. I also had to get up really early but now I am used to that” he explains.

Kzanier with his new DSLR camera

Step by step

Kzanier is working very focussed on his future, taking one step at a time. He has it all worked out. With his FairMail earnings he already bought his own DSLR camera and is now saving up to buy different lenses he needs for his future work. He hopes to be able to combine working as a graphic designer with doing professional photography. He already did his first paid wedding photo shoot! With the MacBook he bought from his FairMail money he can edit his pictures and turn them into great looking designs.

Studying Marketing and International business afterwards

That way he hopes to have everything set up to earn a living. And pay for his marketing and international business study he hopes to continue after finishing at the ITN. Have a look at Kzanier’s cards here to see if you can give him a helping hand to get there. One step at a time.

Kzanier with his family

Tags: impact, invest, kzanier, results, social impact, teenagers
Posted in FairMail, Peru | No Comments »

Second FairMail teenager graduates from University

Wednesday, July 12th, 2017

Yuli at the moment of her graduation

11 years after FairMail started, former photographer Yuli (23, Peru) gave us the best birthday present of all by graduating from University.

An amazing achievement if you consider that as a little girl Yuli had to help her parents select stones and gravel at the quarry to help make ends meet after moving from the mountains to the big city. One generation later their daughter got a bachelor title in Languages from the highly ranked national university of Trujillo. And Yuli is not planning to stop right there.

An amazing path
Yuli entered FairMail in 2008 at the age of 15 years, after being scouted from the YMCA project that works with at risk teenagers near the Trujillo land-fill. Back then she was a very shy girl but it was already clear that she wanted to achieve more in life.

She reached her goal of passing the entrance exam for the National University on her second try in 2013, the same year she travelled to Europe for FairMail’s promotional tour. She soon got the hang of travelling, going to the United States for the past 2 winters to practice her English while working in resort hotels.

Read more about Yuli’s path on her personal profile page or in this video:

Next steps
Yuli wants to keep on studying to get a MSc. degree in Education. “I am checking to see if I can do my master degree in another country through a scholarship or something like that. I always believed that investing in education is the best step towards success” she says. No doubt that the income she keeps earning from the sale of her FairMail cards, on top of the 8.744 euro she already earned, will come in handy for that.

Yuli next to her very proud mother

Shining example
Yuli’s success is not only benefitting herself. She has also become a shining example for her surroundings. 2 of her brothers and sisters are now also in university. And during her 2 years as co-manager of FairMail Peru she inspired many of the current FairMail teenagers to believe in their own dreams. “I always told everyone that you have to do what you really like if you want to pick the fruits of your efforts.” Yuli says.

Wise lessons from Yuli
Yuli has more lessons for all of us: “I also believe that is very important to never disappoint the people that believe in you, that support you and that love you. It doesn’t matter what your goal in life is, what really matters is how much effort, dedication and affection you put into achieving it.”

This way she shows great respect to her parents who greatly sacrificed themselves so their children could have a better future. And also making the best possible use of the assistance FairMail gives to underprivileged teenagers.

Tags: education, impact, results, social impact, teenagers, yuli
Posted in FairMail, Peru | No Comments »

Mission Possible: Paul and Dante on their way to become soccer stars

Wednesday, July 12th, 2017

Paul and Dante with their new team mates

Remember the news about the “Mission Possible” project aimed at helping the FairMail teenagers identify and chase their own dreams?

Only a few months later, Paul and Dante have already achieved their goal by getting admitted into a soccer academy. Step one according to them to follow the steps of their soccer heroes Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar.

Paul managed to get into a local soccer academy

Paul showing off his skills

True empowerment
The core of the Mission Possible project is that the teenagers have to come up with their OWN dreams and their OWN action plan with steps that THEY can take. It would probably seem a lot easier if FairMail took them by the hand to undertake the necessary actions. But real empowerment according to us is to guide them from one step behind, leaving all the action and decisions to them, and of course their parents.

Perhaps taking some wrong decisions along the way. But hey, you can only learn from your mistakes right? And if in the end they achieve their goals they can feel extra proud and generate even more self-esteem as the success was really thanks to their own efforts!

How to get to play for Real Madrid or Barcelona?

In the case of Paul and Dante their dream is to become a professional soccer player. That way they hope to be able to help their families and make them proud. Both love soccer and play every day with the other kids at the Mundo de Ninos boys’ home where they both live. To get to a higher level and possibly be scouted by professional soccer clubs they needed to enter a soccer academy. Which is not as easy as becoming member of a soccer club in Europe for example. Through their own effort and asking help from people around them, they got a chance to show their talent at FC Cantera in Trujillo. They apparently impressed their coaches as both got admitted!

Dante wants to get admitted in a soccer academy

Dante’s dream is winning the golden ball

Hopefully in the next newsletter we will have more news about other teenagers achieving their Mission Possible. Stay tuned.

Tags: Dante, impact, paul, results, social impact, teenagers
Posted in FairMail, Peru | No Comments »

The impact that really matters: life after leaving FairMail

Wednesday, September 7th, 2016

A unique FairMail soccer ball made in Mariluz’ soccer ball factory

In our earlier newsletter you read about FairMail’s impact expressed in numbers. And personal stories about FairMail’s impact on the lives of our current teenagers. But perhaps the most important is the life our former photographers are living years after leaving FairMail.

As this year FairMail is celebrating its 10th birthday we can now provide you with that insight, based on the stories of Pasquel and Mariluz. Both of them left FairMail over 5 years ago and are now leading an independent life as entrepreneurs.

Iconic fair trade image
Mariluz was one of FairMail’s first 6 teenage photographers way back in 2006. She was nearly 16 years old back then. We got to know her through ACJ, a local branch of the YMCA, working with families who make a living of recycling on the nearby garbage belt.

Mariluz’ iconic FairMail photo of local beauty

With this iconic FairMail picture of a butterfly in a flower, taken in front of her house, Mariluz showed us the potential of finding and commoditizing local beauty even in places where you would not expect it.

Mariluz’ bumpy road
Her FairMail career wasn’t the smoothest in the beginning. We even had to suspend her for a couple of months due to motivational problems. But she got the message and worked on her behavior. We gave her a second chance which she grabbed with both hands. This way becoming a valued team member until she retired in 2009 at the age of 19. Her mother being diagnosed with cancer didn’t help her to pursue her educational dreams. However in the end her mother recovered and Mariluz managed to finish studying to become a bank clerk with the 2.352 euro she earned from the sale of her cards.

Mariluz operating one of the soccer ball machines

The smallest soccer ball factory
Since she moved in with her boyfriend, she has combined studying with running a small soccer ball factory. Together with the rest of the family they can produce around 200 soccer balls a week. They even do personalized soccer balls like this ball Mariluz made especially for FairMail.

At the moment Mariluz is studying Marketing & International Business with which she hopes to help her soccer ball factory grow further.

Running away from home

Pasquel with his family when he was 15 years old

Pasquel was one of FairMail’s second generation photographers who joined FairMail in 2009 at the age of 14. After school and during his holidays he worked on the rubbish dump, collecting cardboard and plastic to sell. His father lived and worked elsewhere.

At the age of 16 Pasquel left Trujillo and FairMail to search for his father. After finding him Pasquel stayed with his father and they worked in construction together for a couple of years in the jungle and we kind of lost touch of him.

Starting a family business

Paquel at a livestock fair

Until earlier this year when Pasquel called us. By now he was living with his girlfriend in the South of Peru. He wanted to quit his job in an agricultural processing plant and set up his own business trading livestock. His new girlfriend’s uncle was experienced in the business and wanted to help him. Together they made a plan for Pasquel’s business as this is one of the criteria if the teenagers want to use their FairMail earnings to invest in a business.
In the end the business plan was approved and Pasquel was able to withdraw the money from the sale of his cards which FairMail saved for him over the past few years. He invested this in purchasing 3 calves, their food and medicine. From the sale he has been able to reinvest in his business and he managed to make a profit.

Lessons learned
Of course every teenager has a unique and personal story. What we can learn about the lives of Pasquel and Mariluz is the positive impact of finding a partner coming from a stable and welcoming family. Especially after the lives they have led as kids in broken families, these new surroundings provide them with needed support, advise and stability. Surroundings in which Pasquel and Mariluz are now able to make full use of the earnings and life lessons they learned in FairMail. Both of them remember the fun times when they were part of FairMail and often mention that they learned that you have to grab opportunities when they are presented to you in life.

Mariluz in her home, together with her boyfriend

Tags: impact, mariluz, pasquel, results, social impact, teenagers
Posted in FairMail, Peru | No Comments »

Indian teenagers invest over 100.000 rupees in their housing

Friday, May 1st, 2015

Kaushal’s house with a new top floor

Despite the very sad news about FairMail India closing its doors in October 2014, we are happy that the sale of the Indian FairMail cards is still having a positive impact on the teenagers and their families. In the last few months of 2014 five of the teenagers invested more than 100.000 rupees (>1.500 euro) in the construction of their family homes.

For example 17 year old Aradhana started the construction of her families own house in the outskirts of Varanasi which means they will no longer have to pay rent from her father’s small wage as cart puller. Kaushal managed to provide his family with an improved second story of their home. Meanwhile Sandhya invested in fully replacing the tiny room she lived in with her entire family for a new 2 story house. Anil Kumar and Anil Rao also managed to make significant improvements to their homes and to provide due maintenance. In the case of Anil Rao allowing his family to earn more money renting out part of their home to other people.

Sandhya’s new home under construction

We are very happy with this tiny bit of good news after the difficult decision to close down FairMail India. Unfortunately our decision still seems like the least bad decision to take as tension between some of the former teenager’s families still persists. Also our former team member is still being held in jail since July 2014 on accusations which still haven’t been investigated properly. A very sad situation which seems increasingly difficult to influence despite our intents.

Tags: anil kumar, anil rao, aradhana, housing fund, impact, India, kaushal, Photographers, results, sandhya, social impact, teenagers
Posted in FairMail, India | No Comments »

Mariaflor wins prize for best student

Wednesday, October 29th, 2014

Mariaflor (r) after the ceremony with her friend Cinthia

We are very proud of the fact that FairMail Peru photographer Mariaflor was awarded with the prize for being the best student of her faculty over the past semester. As special as this news sounds, it is actually already the third time that Mariaflor, who is 23 years old by now, managed to achieve this!

With her hard work when she was still taking pictures for FairMail she already earned 7.379 euro. Money which she is investing to study communication sciences at the Cesar Vallejo private university in Trujillo. With her first prize she won a scholarship which means she has to pay only 45 euro per month instead of 110 euro. A discount that is more than welcome to allow Mariaflor to have enough funds to finish her career at the expensive private university. Her mother was present during the award ceremony at the university. According to Mariaflor, her mother says she is proud to have a daughter like Mariaflor. And we are very proud to have a FairMail teenager like her!

It comes as no surprise that Mariaflor works very hard to achieve this incredible result. She understand and fully makes use of this chance to get ahead in life. Therefor she spends an average of more than 50 hours per week on her study.

Can you believe she even manages to combine all that hard work with her part-time job as co-manager of FairMail Peru? She doesn’t make a big deal of this herself. She just points out the unique opportunity she is grasping to be able to practice what she learns at university, while getting paid job experience at the same time.

Her next goal is to specialize her career abroad as this increases opportunities for finding a job afterwards. If anybody has an idea for an organisation where Mariaflor can do her practical period abroad, please let us know. They won’t regret working with a smart and ambitious girl like Mariaflor!

We have a lot of faith that Mariaflor will achieve this and are very grateful to have such a lighting example for the new generation of FairMail teenagers in our Peruvian team!

If you want you can send Mariaflor an email here.

Tags: education, impact, maria_flor, Peru, results, social impact, teenagers
Posted in FairMail, Peru | No Comments »

FairMail’s first social impact measurement

Tuesday, March 18th, 2014

FairMail was set up in 2006 to bring photos with an original perspective into the market but – more importantly – to accomplish our social mission:

“to give at-risk teenagers the opportunity to create a better future for themselves”.

But how much impact did we create in our seven years of operation? And what did the teenagers accomplish with their earnings?

“Earning while learning”

In 2013 the 50 teenage photographers earned 20.530 euro to invest in their own education, their families’ housing and medical care. The top earners in Peru and India were Yomira and Sandhya with 1.419 and 1.801 euro respectively. Yeah girl power! In second place came Elmer and Dhiraj with 1.226 and 1.306 euro each.

FairMail dropout rate is much lower than national average

Anshu in school uniform

These earnings are crucial for the teenagers to be able to fulfill their dreamed future plans. But money alone is no guarantee as success also depends on their perseverance, family situation and motivation for FairMail.

Due to a mix of these reasons, 20% of the teenagers who started FairMail did not make it to the retirement age of 19 years old. These 10 teenagers either lost motivation along the way, were drawn back into problems by “old friends” or faced such big personal problems that they could not continue with FairMail.

86% of all the kids that started FairMail either finished or are still in secondary school. Not bad considering the background of the teenagers FairMail works with. Also if you compare the percentage to the national average of 52% of all Indian teenagers that makes it to tenth grade (or 65% of all children in Peru finishing high school).

87% of FairMail teenagers continue learning after finishing high school

Yuli in front of her university

Of those FairMail teenagers who finished high school during their time with FairMail 40% has continued on to (pre-) university. 47% of them have continued with a vocational training.

Only 13% decided not to continue studying at all after finishing high school. This either due to not finishing high school in the first place or because they didn’t have enough earnings in their funds after finishing FairMail.

78% of “retired” FairMail teenagers have broken the chain of poverty

Akaash invested his earnings in his bike repair shop

At this moment 68% of the FairMail teenagers are still studying something. Of those not studying anymore 55% has a decent job (varying from tourism to construction to sales). 23% has his or her own business or is self-employed (varying from producing soccer balls to photography to mechanic). This way they have broken the chain of poverty and can start building a family that will provide much better opportunities for their children then the families where they grew up in. (8% of the ex-FairMail teenagers already have kids of their own!)

Not all is success though. Still 22% is either unemployed or has a marginalized or an unstable job (varying from carrying groceries on the market to being in jail). 4 out of 5 teenagers who are in this situation happen to be teenagers that didn’t finish the FairMail program until the age of 19. This only shows the importance of FairMail’s long term approach and guidance.

Cinthia graduating

Tags: Dhiraj, education, elmer, impact, results, sandhya, social impact, yomira
Posted in FairMail | No Comments »

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