Christm
as is around the corner and this year we decided to give a little twist to our Amigo Secreto (Secret Santa) gift-exchange tradition. Although in FairMail we have always tried to avoid the trap of consumerism, we realize that excessive consumption has a momentous impact on our planet, and to put it simply, we don’t like that. Way too often we end up spending money to buy things that we don’t need just because at Christmas you are kind of supposed to. For these and many other reasons, we decided to further simplify our Christmas by inspiring the teenagers with the ethical hierarchy of gift exchange. 
Gifts can surely come in many forms, including the non-physical. Giving your time, sharing your skills, creating memories bring more value to both the giver and the receiver. By shifting the focus from material gifts to shared experiences we hope to see the teenagers bond and have a more meaningful Christmas.
Archive for the category "FairMail"
Ethical Secret Santa
Tuesday, December 18th, 2018Gabriel’s success story: from the streets to professional photographer
Wednesday, October 10th, 2018We are often asked what the teenagers do when they leave FairMail and how we keep 
track of their progress. This is the story of Gabriel, undoubtedly one of FairMail’s most talented photographers. He was 14 years old when he joined FairMail, living in a local boy home. Last December Gabriel turned 19 and therefore left FairMail. What is he up to know? Let’s find out!
Gabriel, what are you doing at the moment?
I’m currently studying Communication at the University of UPAO in Trujillo. I am also a member of Runa Foto, a photo club in Trujillo. I love taking part in their photo workshops and excursions because it gives me the possibility to further improve my photo skills and it brings me closer to become a professional photographer. The Christian organization Luz de Vida is supporting me on a more personal level thought their personal development workshops.
What are your goals for the near/mid-term-future?
My main goal at the moment is to finish my studies and become a successful professional so that I can pursue my dreams and help other people do so. In the future, I would love to go on a trip to Mexico to train as a photographer and to learn more about the country and its culture. I would also like to visit the United States to share life stories with young Christian people. Last but not least, I would like to improve my housing conditions.
How has FairMail helped you grow and how is it supporting you now that you left?
FairMail supported me in multiple aspects of my life. In the first place, it has allowed me to develop as a photographer and as a person. In FairMail I have learnt how to make better decisions for my life and it has helped me achieve a clearer picture of my future. Secondly, thanks to FairMail I was able to pay for University and for English classes thanks to the money that I’ve earned (and I’m still earning) with the sales of my cards. Last but not least, FairMail gave me the opportunity to travel across Peru and create unforgettable memories with fellow photographers, travelers and volunteers from all over the world.
This Christmas let’s go fair trade! Brand new photo catalogue out!
Tuesday, October 9th, 2018
If you want to surprise your clients, family, friends or colleagues this year, go fair trade with your Christmas cards! FairMail Christmas cards are not only a treat for your eyes but also a powerful choice to contribute to the personal empowerment of our teenage photographers.
During the month of July, the FairMail teenagers have worked on their Christmas pictures. All of a sudden, the office turned into an out-of-season Christmas laboratory with a present-wrapping station and a permanent cinnamon smell in the air!
The photographers were challenged to create Christmas images using everyday objects and the results will most likely surprise you! From chocolate cookies to coffee beans including buttons, lentils and coco powder, they’ve used them all!
You can buy our cards on our web shop, or on Greetz web site. If you want to get personalized Christmas cards for your company or your family and friends, you can have a look at our Christmas catalogue here.
Don’t miss the opportunity to give a meaningful Christmas card this year, you’ll make the difference in the lives of our teenage photographers!
FairMail Photography Trip – Huaraz 2018
Tuesday, October 9th, 2018
January and August are without any doubt two special months for FairMail. We all look forward to these 2 months with anticipation because it’s when we leave the desert Peruvian coast behind and we embark on some crazy adventures on the Andes or in the jungle.
We spent the first week of August exploring the Ancash Region on the Peruvian Andes. FairMail photographers Paul, Melany, Julissa, Medalit and Gerardo went on the trip and we were also joined by a group of 5 travelers from Germany, Switzerland and Italy.
The Ancash region is home to some of the most breathtaking snow-capped Peruvian mountains that make up the Cordillera Blanca and it offers a strikingly varied scenery and we surely weren’t short of opportunities for fun!
We climbed up to 4300m, bathed in thermal baths, paid tribute to Mother Earth with the Pachamanca ceremony, learned about local culture and history, we took a lot of pictures an
d most importantly…we had a lot of fun!
We now hope that many of the pictures that the FairMail teenagers took will become cards soon!
Click here to watch the video of the trip.
If you want to join us on our next adventure, read here.
Who is behind FairMail now?
Monday, January 22nd, 2018
After the announcement of the takeover, FairMail founders Janneke Smeulders and Peter den Hond have been overwhelmed with messages of support and they are very glad about it. We guess many of you are probably wondering: “who is running FairMail now?” Well, everyone please meet Kira, Federica and Natalia.
Kira, Federica and Natalia met for the first time in 2015 when the three of them were volunteering for FairMail. Among all the volunteering opportunities that they could have picked, they were all driven to FairMail, somehow it looks like it was meant to be. During their time in Huanchaco, they got really enthusiastic about the project, they bonded with the teenagers and fell in love with Huanchaco, the small fisher village that hosts FairMail’s Peruvian headquarters.
After their experiences as volunteers, they felt their time in FairMail was, somehow, not over. Back to their countries, they kept in touch with FairMail, they engaged in different activities and became, eventually, sale agents. Receiving the email with the proposal of succeeding Peter and Janneke in the management of FairMail came as a total surprise, to say the least. They took their time to let the news sink in and eventually they overcame the fear of the unknown and decided to embrace the change.
Let’s get to know them better right now.
Kira works as a project manager responsible for Web-Marketing and IT-Development in a mid-size company close to Stuttgart, Germany. Thanks to her family’s love for travel and adventure, she developed a global mindset and she is convinced that her vision of a better and sustainable future will be achieved by sharing knowledge, creativity and the principle of capacity building.
Federica is a freelance English and Italian teacher and translator based in Turin, Italy. She is a word nerd at heart, communication is her main area of expertise. She believes the world can be made a better place by creating and fostering dialogue among people of all faiths and backgrounds. She acknowledges that traveling is fatal to prejudice, therefore she never stops exploring.
Natalia studied International Social Work in Ludwigsburg. She is a passionate globetrotter and admires to capture her traveling experiences with photographs. Beyond Germany and Poland, her homecountry, she feels at home in Kenya, Indonesia and in Peru where she volunteered as part of her studies. Natalia has the interests of the environment at heart and she believes that international exchange and the sharing of knowledge can make the world a better place.
They couldn’t be happier to start this adventure together and they look forward to everything that this journey will have to offer.
Show your love with a sustainable card!
Monday, January 22nd, 2018Nothing says “I love you” like a fair trade card!
Thanks to the talent and creativity of our teenagers from Peru, India and Morocco, FairMail can offer you a wide range of Valentine’s cards to tell the people you love how much you care for them.
It’s amazing to think of all the things that our teenagers used to make beautiful hearts: from flowers to matches, from cups to corn, not to forget newspapers, hands, balloons, pastels and stones. There is really no limit to creativity! Also, we are proud of the fact that in most of the cases the props that our photographers use are almost always free or cost very little money.
So why should you go for a fair-trade Valentine’s card this year? There are several reasons and we feel the most important are:
1) You’re actively contributing to the empowerment of our teenagers in terms of education and housing conditions;
2) You’re contributing to the economic development of the host country on a larger scale;
3) You’re helping FairMail invest in photography gear;
4) You’re sending a great message to the person that will receive the card.
So, what are you waiting for? Shout out your love with a fair-trade card, you’ll make the world a better place!
FairMail and Goldbek winning the 2018 “Hamburg! Handelt! Fair!” competition
Monday, January 22nd, 2018
2018 couldn’t be off to a better start! Last week the Hamburg City Hall hosted the final round of the Hamburg! Handelt! Fair! competition.
The aim of the competition is to raise awareness on fair trade products and to implement effective marketing strategies to promote them on the market. Six teams of students from six local universities worked hand in hand with Hamburg-based companies that sell fair trade products and came up with thorough market research that were presented on January 11, 2018 before a 10-member jury of businesses and local associations.
We couldn’t be happier and prouder to announce that the students from EBC Hochschule Hamburg, supported by our German publisher GOLDBEK, won the first prize! Astrid, Lea, Laura and Sylie provided a very accurate insight on how FairMail and Goldbek could improve our online brand awareness and visibility.
On behalf of the whole FairMail family, congratulation on your achievement, girls!!
2017 Photographer of the Year
Monday, January 22nd, 2018
As every year, the election of the Photographer of the Year is always awaited with tense anticipation. This is a reward that all the teenage photographers aspire to, but what does exactly mean being elected Photographer of the Year and how does the election work? And most importantly, who is 2017 Photographer of the Year? This blog post will walk you through all the steps to achieve this important acknowledgement and reveal the winner!
In FairMail we have a “red and green point” award system that is used both to decide which of the kids are going on the photography trips and to elect the Photographer of the Year. Every time a teenager stands out for doing something remarkable, like for example supporting one of his/her colleagues or giving an extra hand in the office, he or she get a green point. For the opposite reason, they get a red point every time they do not comply with one of the 5 values that we stand for in FairMail.
When a teenager gets a green or red point, the reasons behind this decision are openly stated during Saturday’s circulo social so that it is clear to everybody why the green or red point was given. At the end of the year we simply do the math subtracting the red points from the green points and the teenage who scores best is elected photographer of the year.
This year, for the first time in FairMail’s history, we had a draw! Gabriel and Paul got the same result and were both awarded Photographer of the Year 2017! This is no surprise, both have worked really hard and have always put a little extra effort during classes. Paul’s achievement is particularly important to him because being awarded Photographer of the Year was his goal for 2017.
From our contact page you can email Paul and Gabriel and personally congratulate on their achievement!
New Online Fair Trade Christmas Card Collection
Saturday, December 9th, 2017
Fair Trade Christmas card by Bryan
In our last newsletter you could already enjoy our newly printed Christmas Card collection. This time we are presenting you our on-line Christmas Card collection.
With 4 great new motives you can now choose from 28 different Christmas Card motives to personalize online. After writing your fair trade Christmas messages, our partner Greetz takes care of the printing and sending off of the cards. Great service with the cold & dark weather outside. The cards start at only 1,79 each!
Design your own Fairtrade Christmas cards here.
Fair Trade Christmas card by Julissa
Fair Trade Christmas card by Juan Gabriel
Fair Trade Christmas card by Kzanier
New owners for FairMail!
Saturday, December 9th, 2017
The current and future owners of FairMail
Take a seat while reading this huge news: after more then 11 years FairMail founders Peter and Janneke are ready to take a step back and hand over “their baby” to new owners. “We noticed that our energy for some of the business aspects of the company was diminishing. And that this also blocked our inspiration for new creative ideas in business development. We believe that FairMail deserves new oxygen and energy to keep on unleashing its potential. Apart from that we also felt that both of us had a craving for some new personal development, outside of FairMail.”
“This is a huge step for us which we have been working on for quite some time now. After some investigations we found a team of 3 young women who will take-over FairMail per 1/1/2018. They are super motivated and all three of them know FairMail from the inside, as former volunteer photography trainers in Peru. 2 of them are German and 1 is Italian. They will set up a new FairMail company in Germany. As founders we plan to stay involved from the side in a Board of Advice. The 3 women will take over all of the daily work and we trust and believe they will follow the philosophy and ideas on which we based the FairMail concept.”
FairMail founder Janneke being thanked by the teenagers
“It feels very strange to leave the company and at the same time it feels healthy, for two main reasons. Firstly because with this take-over FairMail is able to continue and hopefully to keep growing with the 3 new shareholders and their new energy and ideas. Secondly because of the new freedom we will have to develop ourselves in new areas. Peter wants to work more with his hands, build wooden surfboards and eco-homes, while Janneke wants to continue specializing as an adolescent coach and -trainer. We won’t be the “father and mother” of FairMail any longer but assume a new role as “grandfather and grandmother”. We are very grateful that things worked out this way!”
“To make sure that the hand-over goes smoothly and that neither our customers nor the teenagers are affected negatively we have been training the new owners for the past months already. From December to February we will continue the training while working together in Peru during the actual hand-over.”
If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact us by clicking here. Peter and Janneke can be contacted for private messages after the first of January via peterdenhond@gmail.com and Janneke.smeulders@gmail.com.