Posts Tagged ‘hacer voluntariado’

Voluntarios profesores de fotografía en la mira

domingo, octubre 25th, 2015
Natalia helping Diana with a fairtrade condolence card picture

Natalia helping Diana with a fairtrade condolence card picture

Entonces si los jóvenes de FairMail son las que toman las fotos en los postales, ¿cómo puede ser que sus fotos encajan tan bien con el gusto de sus clientes en los mercados de Alemania, Francia, Holanda y Bélgica? Esto es gracias al apoyo de voluntarios de todo el mundo quienes vienen al Perú para enseñar fotografía. Para dar una idea de su impresión de FairMail y de que se trata el trabajo que realizan hemos entrevistado a la voluntaria Natalia (26 años) de Alemania justo antes de que regreso a su país luego de estar con FairMail Perú por 6 meses. Usted puede leer más sobre sus experiencias aquí.

 

¿Cómo te enteraste sobre el voluntariado en FairMail Perú?

Lo escuché de un ex estudiante de mi universidad. Ella estuvo en FairMail India durante sus prácticas semestrales hace muchos años.
¿Cuáles fueron tus tareas normales y en qué proyectos especiales hiciste?

Junto con otros voluntarios yo estaba enseñando fotografía a los adolescentes, especialmente desarrollar sus habilidades creativas, pues muchos de ellos ya saben cómo manejar sus cámaras. Para hacerlo fue necesario hacer un plan en cooperación con las  co-gerentes de FairMail Perú. Después de que los chicos tomaron las fotos, mis colegas y yo seleccionábamos las mejores y hablábamos sobre algunas sugerencias para mejorarlas fotos en el futuro. Asimismo, planeé e implementé mi propio proyecto  que tuvo como objetivo proveer a los fotógrafos  con experiencias de trabajo práctico antes que ellos dejaran FairMail y  antes de decidir sobre su futura profesión.

 

The whole FairMail team showing their creative projects

The whole FairMail team showing their creative projects

¿Qué dirías sobre tu impacto en los adolescentes durante tu tiempo  como voluntaria? ¿Cómo los ayudaste?

Creo que mi voluntariado ayudó a los adolescentes en su motivación – no solo en la fotografía pero también en la búsqueda de posibles profesiones para sus futuros y  oportunidades de trabajo. Como los adolescentes me dijeron, especialmente las conversaciones individuales los ayudaron a creer en ellos mismos y en sus capacidades.

 

¿Qué es lo que más te gustó sobre ser voluntario en FairMail?

Lo que más me gusto es el sentimiento de ser un miembro más de la Familia Fairmail Perú. Desde el inicio, los adolescentes me dieron la bienvenida muy cálidamente y no parecía importarles sobre mis habilidades básicas en el idioma. Cuando sea que yo me sentía desmotivada, ellos me dieron nueva energía y coraje. También disfruté ver que mientras más hablamos y trabajamos en las ideas de los chicos, sus fotos son cada vez mejor. Fue asombrosa la sensación de ver la primera postal de uno de los nuevos fotógrafos: Angélica. Me hizo sentirme muy orgullosa de nuestro trabajo juntas.

Cuánto te gustó vivir en huanchaco y qué tipo de cosas hiciste en tu tiempo libre?

 

Disfruté mucho la vida en Huanchaco. En mi tiempo libre, yo estaba conociendo a mis amigos, disfrutando de la comida coreana, bailando salsa, surfeando, relajándome en la playa, aprendiendo español y capturando todo a mí alrededor con mi cámara.

¿Qué podrías decir a los otros que se están preguntando si les gustaría ser voluntario para FairMail?

Para quienes se están preguntando si deberían postular o no a FairMail, yo les diría que no deberían dudarlo más! Esto realmente vale la pena, no solo porque tendrá el placer de convertirse en miembro de una competente y cordial empresa social sino también porque tendrá la oportunidad de mejorar sus habilidades en el Idioma Español y ganará una experiencia de vida en Perú.

Natalia preparing the healthy break snack with FairMail Peru managers Yuli and Maria flor

Natalia preparing the healthy break snack with FairMail Peru managers Yuli and Maria flor

¿Quizá tienes o tuviste algún momento o experiencia divertida?

Tuve muchos momentos divertidos durante mi estadía en Perú. Uno de ellos fue durante el trabajo, como Medalit y yo estábamos tomando fotos con el tema de “Gracias” usando pequeñas y  coloridas piedras en la playa. Para hacerlo era necesario encontrar la posición correcta para el texto. Después terminamos de escribir las palabras en la arena y dimos la vuelta para usar las piedras, encontramos que solo había un espacio vacío. Las piedras se habían ido!

De pronto nos dimos cuenta de un hombre que estaba limpiando la basura más abajo de la playa.

Corrimos hacia él para explicarle lo que estábamos buscando y él record haberlas recogido.  una vez Una vez que encontramos las piedras en su saco lleno de basura, pudimos finalmente empezar a construir las palabras en la arena. Justo después que terminamos de formar perfectamente las piedras en la playa y Medelit prendía su cámara, una enorme hola llegó a nuestros pies y se llevó todas nuestras piedras!

No pudimos dejar de reír y empezamos a rescatar las pequeñas piedras otra vez, que fueron esparcidas por toda la playa. Futuros voluntarios, sean conscientes de esas pequeñas piedras – Ellas estarán en sus aventuras!

 

Suena bien trabajar como voluntario para FairMail así que si conoce algún interesado puede leer todos los detalles sobre cómo funciona aquí. Vale mencionar que no cobramos nada por trabajar como voluntario con nosotros.

«Con FairMail puedo combinar mis passiones por la fotografia y viajar»

viernes, diciembre 13th, 2013
The FairMail Peru team

The FairMail Peru team

One of the strengths of FairMail is that the free photography training for our teenagers is given by volunteer photography trainers from different countries. Each one of them with a passion to share their different experiences, skills and perspectives with our teenagers. Like Basile Longin, a French volunteer who just finished helping out in Peru for 2 months. We asked him to share his experiences as volunteer for FairMail Peru:

“My name is Basile Longin, I am 27 years old. I’ve just finished my studies in France. With my girlfriend, we wanted to travel across South America with some volunteering along the way. When she saw the FairMail volunteer position to teach photography to a group of teenagers, I directly applied. It was the perfect mission for me because I have been passionate about photography for many years.“

What are your activities as volunteer?

“Working with FairMail is not a full time volunteer job. But that is perfect for me because I can discover the region. There are two classes a week, one on Thursday for theory with half of the group in the morning and half in the afternoon. And the second class is on Saturday morning to take pictures with the entire group.”

“I manage the class as I want. I can tackle a lot of photography themes and present them the different aspects of photography. I also added facultative classes to take photo’s during the night and the kids loved it.”

“The job is not only giving classes, but I also have to prepare classes and I spend time to find good examples, in order to explain the different themes best. Another part of my work is to look at all the photos taken with each teenager, choose which ones are the best or to explain them how they can improve them.“

“Volunteer for FairMail takes me two days and half a week. That is very reasonable and gives me time to go surfing, visit the region, and to enjoy Peru!”

Photo shoot in the botanical garden

Photo shoot in the botanical garden

What do you like about volunteering for FairMail?

“I like FairMail because it’s was the unique possibility for me to combine two of my passions: photography and traveling.  The second very important aspect that I like is that you can see the effect of your work. I mean that the volunteering has an important impact on the life of each teenager who does not have much money to live. Last but not least the group is really nice and lovely. It will be hard for me to leave them at the end of the month.“

What is the most challenging for you?

“The most challenging part for me is the Spanish, I studied it 2 years in high school but I was so bad. I started again to study it 2 months before coming in South America so it was hard at the beginning but now it’s better, I still have some problems with the vocabulary.“

What kind of capabilities do you need if you want to have a good time volunteering at FairMail?

“In order to have a great time in FairMail, it is important to speak Spanish to understand and to be understood. The second most important thing is to like sharing your passion for photography. It is also important to have creativity and ideas, to give them ideas to make them taking pictures with a different point of view, to explain them what is wrong, what is good… “

What do the teenagers still need to learn from future volunteers?

“For the future volunteer who wants to join to the great FairMail adventure, it is important to share your best photos, to explain them how to make them and to try to do the same with them. It is would be good to teach them how to develop an opinion about a picture. And to come with plenty of ideas and creativity!”

“Don’t hesitate to contact me if you want more information about my experience with FairMail or about the life in Huanchaco. If you are interesting to see more photos that I make, you can join me on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/BasileLonginPhotographe or on my travelling blog http://rencontresudamericaine.fr/ (in French).“

For more information about volunteering for FairMail in Peru or India click here.

Que opinan los chicos de FairMail sobre los voluntarios que ensenan fotografia?

miércoles, noviembre 28th, 2012
FairMail volunteer photography trainer

FairMail volunteer photography trainer

FairMail wouldn’t exist without the work of many international volunteer photography trainers who teach photography every week in Peru, India and Morocco. On average there are 2 volunteers per country at the same time who prepar 3 to 5 classes per week during the 2 months they work for FairMail. In an earlier blog we reported what this experience means from the volunteer perspective. But what to the FairMail teenagers think about their volunteer photography trainers? We asked the Indian teenagers:

  1. Why are volunteers important for you?

–          if the volunteers weren’t there, we could not learn about photography, so we would not be able to earn money

–          they are our guest, so we have to take care of them

–          because they give us ideas and projects to work on

–          because the volunteers teach us about their countries

–          they inspire us

 

  1. What do you think makes a good volunteer?

–          having ideas about what to teach us

–          the weak students should be encouraged by them

–          they should be good teachers

–          needs to be patient

–          it is good when they introduce new photographers

 

  1. Why do you think volunteers like to work for FairMail in Varanasi?

–          they will see India and the Indian culture, living circumstances,

–          help us to grow further

–          because the project is a good project where you can help people

–          because they can also travel around Varanasi (e.g. Ghats)

 

  1. What is sometimes difficult for the volunteers when they work with FairMail?

–          the weather, some volunteers get sick because of it

–          the trash/dirt outside

–          they can find the amount of people in India difficult/ crowd situation

–          language problem

–          people on the street might comment

 

  1. What would you like to say to people interested in becoming a volunteer in India?

–          they are most welcome, because through them we can learn. They can also tell us things from their own experience, not what they have learnt in books.

–          We want you to come to India to come and see our country, see the colours, festivals, etc.

–          We need help for taking better pictures.

To learn more about the opportunities about volunteering for FairMail in Peru, India or Morocco, click here.

Una semana en la vida de una voluntaria en la India

miércoles, marzo 21st, 2012

A week out of the life of a volunteer photography trainer
We had a busy week in the Fairmail India office last week! We were lucky enough to have Anna Grebel join us for a few days and then we went on a class trip to a waterfall to work on our photo’s… Busy Busy Busy!

Anil and Anna doing a role play in the office

Anil and Anna doing a role play in the office

Anna came to meet the teenagers and do some careers training with them. Back home Anna works with teenagers on all sorts of topics so we were all very happy she wanted to come work with us at Faimail India! Her workshop was fantastic, all of the teeangers learnt about interviews and Anna gave lots of great tips and advice and the students had chance to practise doing some role plays – Lots of fun and great English practise for them too! The teenagers profit funds from their photos finances their education and futures so its really important for them to start thinking about their dreams for the future!

Taking Christmas pictures at the waterfall

Taking Christmas pictures at the waterfall

Last Sunday we took our bag of props and a BIG picnic basket to the Waterfalls, about an hour outside of the city. The waterfall is beautiful and the trees and the water made great backgrounds for our christmas props. The students all worked really hard and afterwards we enjoyed an delicious picnic together and some of the teenagers went for a dip in the river! A lovely day for all of us and some great photos were taken for christmas themes – hopefully we’ll see some of them on cards next christmas!

Want to learn more about the opportunities for you to give photography training to the FairMail teenagers in Peru, India or Morocco? Click here for more information.

Elaine Cowen with the FairMail India team

Elaine Cowen with the FairMail India team