impact « FairMail

Posts Tagged ‘impact’

A Covid-19 update from our community

dimanche, octobre 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, Perou, Photographes, photographie
Posted in FairMail | No Comments »

Kzanier investit ses gains dans la conception graphique et un Macbook

mercredi, novembre 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, résultats, impact social, adolescents
Posted in FairMail, Perou | No Comments »

Deuxième diplômé de FairMail adolescent de l’Université

mercredi, juillet 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: éducation, impact, résultats, impact social, adolescents, yuli
Posted in FairMail, Perou | No Comments »

Mission possible: Paul et Dante en route pour devenir des stars du football

mercredi, juillet 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!

Dante wants to get admitted in a soccer academy

Dante’s dream is winning the golden ball

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!

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

Tags: Dante, impact, paul, résultats, impact social, adolescents
Posted in FairMail, Perou | No Comments »

L’impact qui compte vraiment: la vie après avoir quitté FairMail

mercredi, septembre 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, résultats, impact social, adolescents
Posted in FairMail, Perou | No Comments »

Les adolescents indiens investissent plus de 100 000 roupies pour leur logement

vendredi, mai 1st, 2015

Kaushal’s house with a new top floor

Malgré la très triste nouvelle de la fermeture de FairMail Inde en Octobre 2014, nous sommes heureux que la vente des cartes indiennes de FairMail continue d’avoir un impact positif sur les adolescents et leurs familles. Sur les derniers mois de l’année 2014, cinq des adolescents ont investi plus de 100 000 roupies (environ 1 500 € ) dans la construction de leur maison familiale.

Par exemple, Aradhana, 17 ans, a commencé la construction de la propre maison familiale dans la banlieue de Varanasi. Ceci signifie qu’ils n’auront plus à payer de loyer avec le petit salaire de son père, travaillant dans une activité en lien avec le transport par charrette. Kaushal a réussi à offrir à sa famille une deuxième amélioration dans leur maison. Pendant ce temps, Sandhya a investi pour remplacer la petite pièce où elle vivait avec toute sa famille pour une nouvelle maison de 2 étages. Anil Kumar et Anil Rao ont également réussi à apporter des améliorations significatives dans leurs foyers et son entretien. Anil Rao a permis à sa famille de louer une partie de leur maison à d’autres personnes pour gagner plus d’argent.

Sandhya’s new home under construction

Nous sommes très heureux de ces bonnes nouvelles après le choix difficile de fermer FairMail Inde. Malheureusement, notre décision semble encore être la moins mauvaise décision à prendre de par les tensions qui persistent encore entre certaines familles de nos anciens adolescents. Notre ancien membre de l’équipe est toujours détenu en prison depuis juillet 2014, avec des accusations qui n’ont pas encore été correctement vérifiées. Une situation très triste qui semble de plus en plus difficile d’influencer malgré nos intentions.

Tags: anil kumar, anil rao, aradhana, fonds de logement, impact, India, kaushal, Photographes, résultats, sandhya, impact social, adolescents
Posted in FairMail, India | No Comments »

MariaFlor remporte le prix du meilleur étudiant

mercredi, octobre 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: éducation, impact, maria_flor, Perou, résultats, impact social, adolescents
Posted in FairMail, Perou | No Comments »

Première mesure de l’impact social de FairMail

mardi, mars 18th, 2014

FairMail a été créé pour amener sur le marché des photos avec une perspective originale. Mais, le plus important, est d’accomplir notre mission sociale:

« offrir a chaque adolescent en situation difficile la possibilité de se construire un avenir meilleur. »

Ainsi, quel impact avons-nous développé au cours de nos sept années de fonctionnement ? En 2013, les 50 photographes adolescents on gagné au total 20 530 € pour investir dans leur éducation, le logement de leur familles et les soins de santé. Les meilleurs résultats au Pérou et en Inde sont respectivement pour Yomira et Sandhya avec 1 419 € 1 801 €. Whaou la puissance des filles ! En deuxième place se situent Elmer et Dhiraj avec 1 226 € et 1 306 € chacun. Mais qu’est-ce que les adolescents accomplissent avec leurs gains?

Les “décrochages scolaires” chez Fair Mail sont bien moindre que la moyenne nationale

Anshu in school uniform

Pour les adolescents, ces gains sont cruciaux afin qu’ils puissent réaliser leurs rêves. Cependant, l’argent en soi n’est pas une garantie de succès, tant celui-ci dépend aussi de leur persévérance, leur situation de famille et leur motivation vis à vis de FairMail. Pour ces diverses raisons, 20 % des adolescents ne sont jusqu’à présent pas parvenus au terme de leur engagement avec FairMail, fixé à l’âge de 19 ans. Les 10 adolescents que ce chiffre représente ont, soit perdu la motivation en cours de route, soit été tirés vers la bas par de «vieux amis», ou bien dû faire face à de tels problèmes personnels qu’ils ont du interrompre leur projet avec FairMail . Bien qu’il ne s’agisse que de la réussite de 40 adolescents, 86 % d’entre d’eux ayant débuté avec FairMail sont parvenus au terme de leur cycle d’éducation secondaire ou sont toujours scolarisés. Ce qui est positif comparé à la moyenne nationale de 52 % d’adolescents indiens qui achèvent leur dixième année ( ou 65 % pour les adolescentss du Pérou qui terminent leur cycle secondaire).

85% des adolescents FairMail poursuivent leur scolarité post-secondaire

Yuli in front of her university

Parmi les lycéens parvenus au terme de leur engagement avec FairMail (retraite à 19 ans), 35 % ont ensuite suivi un parcours ( pré- ) universitaire et 50 % ont opté pour une formation professionnelle. Seulement 15 % d’entre eux ont décidé d’interrompre totalement leurs études. Les raisons sont soit une impossibilité à poursuivre, soit un manque de fonds au terme de leur parcours avec FairMail .

78% des adolescents » retraités » de FairMail ont brisé la chaîne de la pauvreté

Akaash invested his earnings in his bike repair shop

Actuellement, 68 % des 50 adolescents FairMail sont toujours engagés dans un parcours scolaire. Parmi les autres, 55% ont un emploi décent (dans le secteur du tourisme, de la construction ou de la vente) et 23 % ont créé leur propre entreprise ou sont travailleurs indépendants (qu’il s’agisse de production de ballon de football, de photographie ou dans le domaine de la mécanique). Ainsi, ils ont pu rompre la chaîne de pauvreté et envisager de fonder une famille qui soit en mesure d’offrir bien plus d’opportunités à leurs enfants qu’il ne le fut pour eux-même, dans la leur.

Tout n’est cependant pas partie gagnée. 22 % d’entre-eux sont toujours au chômage, en emploi précaire ou dans une situation marginale (qu’il s’agisse de manutention sur les marchés ou bien de prison) . 4 adolescents sur 5 qui sont dans cette situation sont ceux qui n’ont pu terminé le programme FairMail. Ceci démontre l’importance d’une approche et d’un accompagnement à long terme par FairMail .

Cinthia graduating

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

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