First group meeting with the team
Mid March FairMail initiator Peter den Hond went for a three week visit to FairMail india. Read below about his most marvelous day, how he helped to clear a path through the jungle and found Tibetian treasures hidden in the Himalayas.
After a 12 hour train journey I arrived in the holy city of Varanasi on the borders of the Ganges river. At the train station I was picked up by our managers Akshay and three of the FairMail photographers to take me to the new office of FairMail India. I felt straight away that there was a lot of good energy, fun and friendship between the team members. « Great to see, but if everything was already going so well in India, what was my role going to be here the coming weeks? »
Lost in the jungle?
Common goals set by FairMail team
During the last visit by Janneke in Octobre the whole team identified the collective goals of FairMailIndia (see picture). Earn money, Learn things, Help others, Get a profession and have fun together where the main goals. Since then the team is working hard on the succes of FairMail India. You can visualize it as if they are working hard every day chopping their way through the jungle in the direction of their goal. Then it is good if every now and then a foreigner comes in, climbs into the highest tree to look over the forest and see if we are still going in the right direction to reach our goal.
Ways FairMail India can improve according to the team
The teenagers aren’t used to openly criticize and evaluate their employer. But with some warming up we managed to get quiet a few examples of things going well or not going so well. And even a lot of ideas of how we can improve FairMail India! For example the kids where happy with the fact that money was actually being earned now for their eduational and medical needs, but they where disappointed that of a few team members hardly any images where being selected. And according to them FairMail uniforms and ID cards would be a great improvement. (see picture). Now we all know which way we are heading the whole team is back to work together. clearing a path through the jungle again.
Tibetan treasures in the Himalayas
The whole group who travelled to Darjeeling
Besides the jungle we also went to the Himalayas. During the second FairMail India photography trip we travelled to the foot of the Indian Himalayas for 10 days. We went with 4 of the photographers, manager Akshay and travelling photographer Mr. Henk. We wanted to discover a new part of their country with the teenagers, get to know each other better and of course take great pictures for the new catalogue. In the north east of India there are many Buddhist influences from nearby Tibet and Bhutan. So perfect to take pictures of Buddha statues and Tibetan monks walking in the street. Take a look at the new pictures the teenagers took and judge for yourself.
Brainstorming about ideas for pictures in front of the fire place
The promised view of the snow capped Himalaya stayed away for a long time due to the bad weather. For the teenagers who where used to warmer weather it was extremely cold at this altitude. They quickly had to buy glooves, scarves and hats to stay warm. Luckily our hotel had a nice fire place which they had never seen before! (see picture). Watch the small video about the trip by clicking here. We showed it during parent day to all the parents so they have an idea what we do to their kids when we take them away for 10 days!
A great (parent) day for Sandhya
Sandhya could not believe how much she had earned!
For me the parent day we organized the last day was great because that way we could discuss the dreams the teenagers wanted to full fill with help of FairMail with their parents too. Despite their background/caste or financial situation. That was very inspiring to see for me! But I think the parent day was even more special for Sandhya. When we discussed the quarterly profit per teenager she learned that she had earned the crazy amount of 46.000 rupees with the sale of her cards in the last 3 months. (as a comparison the local fair trade liveable wage is set at 4.500 rupees per month. And Sandhya earns her money while taking free photography classes 10 hours per week, while her father has to try and repair rickshaws 48 hours per week!). Now FairMail India (like Peru) is starting to earn serious money we have to communicate more with the parents and their kids about finding ways to spend the money in an efficient and effective way. With local customs like arranged marriages, dowries and traditional gender relations this will become a nice challenge for the months to come. We already started « wishing » and discussing the « Creation Spiral » by writer Martinus Knoope.
Like last time the good bye bit was quick and hasty due to the full programme the last day. But that made the relaxation for me in the train back to Delhi all the better. A good chance for me to really feel that the coaching of local production units is the part of my work at FairMail that I enjoy most!
No less then six new FairMail photography trips are available in 2010 and 2011. New destinations include « The Holy Rivers » in India and « The Cordillera Blanca » in Peru. In 2011 « The Organic Coffee route » is back by popular demand.
With the sale of 
Akaash is one of the teenagers who likes to work with his hands and is not motivated to follow further education. You can’t really blame him after seeing what this has brought his brother and sister. Both have a university degree but no job and thus can’t support the family. Luckily Akaash does understand that to run a succesfull business he has to be able to read, write and do his maths. That’s why he, Anil and Sonu hired the services of a private tutor to learn at least the basics. The coming years FairMail will be following up on Akaash and guiding him to make his mechanic workplace a success.