Covid-19 Pandemic Not All Sad Stories

KOMPAS/REGINA RUKMORINI

Deakrista (19), a resident of Gelangan Village, Central Magelang District, showed her homemade mask product on Monday (27/7/2020).

The pandemic is not all stories of illness and economic collapse. For some people, the pandemic has instead inspired creativity in writing their own success story.

F. Tuti Cudara, a 45-year-old who lives in Gelangan of Magelang municipality, Central Java, is one such individual. As many people hunkered down to survive the Covid-19 health crisis, she was inspired to create a new herbal concoction. She blended herbal ingredients with guava juice and soursop juice.

The new herbal drink recipe was produced for the first time in March 2020. "If there was no pandemic, I might not have come up with this idea," said Tuti, who has been selling jamu (traditional herbal medicine) for about 15 years.

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Tuti hopes that her innovation can encourage more people to drink jamu, especially teenagers and children who are turned off by the bitter taste of herbal medicines. Aside from their natural freshness and health benefits, she wants consumers to benefit from the new herbal drink she calls “jamu kekinian” (today’s herbal medicine).

She was inspired to make the new herbal brew as the government called on the public to maintain physical distance, and its movement restrictions made her unable to move freely in making her usual rounds selling jamu.

Tuti is now promoting her herbal drinks through the Instagram account belonging to her 19-year-old daughter, Deacrista Candra Kusuma. She delivers the jamu in sealed plastic cups.

With the addition of new jamu variants and by changing her marketing method, Tuti’s business has seen a significant increase in turnover.

Thanks to her promotional efforts through social media, she has seen an increase in the demand for her jamu, not only in Magelang but also areas beyond the city. With the addition of new jamu variants and by changing her marketing method, Tuti’s business has seen a significant increase in turnover.

Fitnasih, a 29-year-old who lives in Karangrejo village of Borobudur district, Magelang regency, has also innovated by using spices.

Fitnasih, who lost her job as a tour guide at Borobudur Temple because of a slump in visitors to the popular tourist destination, has created new packaged herbs to make wedang, a traditional ginger beverage.

Using Rp 100,000 in capital to purchase a variety of spices such as cardamom, clove, ginger and turmeric, Fitnasih has come up with three new spice mixes for the traditional beverage: wedang uwuh, wedang secang, and wedang rempah. Each package contains dried herbs and rock sugar that are ready to brew.

KOMPAS/REGINA RUKMORINI

The production of Tuti Cudara F (45) herbal medicine is packaged in a small glass on Monday (27/7/2020).

She initially made 100 packs. Her herbal drinks which she promoted through WhatsApp and Facebook, received a positive response from relatives and colleagues in her tour business. Unexpectedly, demand soared in the space of two weeks. "In the first three weeks, I sold 7,000 packages of wedang," she said.

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The economic storm resulting from the pandemic indeed hit a variety of sectors, as well as small and big companies, including hundreds of silkscreen businesses in the Sablon tourism village of Muararajeun in the city of Bandung, West Java. Tens of millions of rupiah in monthly earnings went up in smoke.

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However, Asep Gunawan did not give up in the midst of the difficult situation. The stock of unused printing ink inspired the 49-year-old silkscreen maker to start painting. He did not paint with a brush, but using cake decoration tools.

The wall of his house are now adorned with more than 25 paintings in sizes that range from 40 centimeters by 60 centimeters to 1 meter by 1.5 meters. The paintings include portraits of scientist Albert Einstein and the Beatles, all wearing masks. He made the paintings in the entire collection during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Many people have shown interest in his paintings, but he has not sold all of them.

Asep has been actively uploading his paintings to social media platforms over the last three months. Many people have shown interest in his paintings, but he has not sold all of them. He also taught his colleagues his painting technique.

The chairman of Muararajeun Sablon tourism village, Wahyu Sudarto, expressed appreciation for Asep\'s creativity and planned to hold a training workshop for other painters to learn Asep’s technique. According to Wahyu, no less than 50 households that ran silkscreen businesses in Muararajeun had been affected by Covid-19. In the last four months, most had closed down. The business owners used their savings to survive or had switched to another business, such as selling basic goods and making masks.

Kompas

Asep Gunawan (49), a screen printing businessman, showed his paintings in the city of Bandung, West Java, Sunday (19/7/2020). This painting uses screen printing paint.

Arry Setiawan also refused to give up. The 59-year-old drew rural scenes on A3 paper, which was used as a background in one of the animated videos on the Tumaritis Reborn account. The account is managed by Moch Iqbal, a 43-year-old comic artist from Bandung, and his colleagues.In addition to contributing illustrations, 14 other silkscreen makers were recruited as voice actors to narrate stories. Most of these entrepreneurs whose businesses had virtually collapsed due to Covid-19 did have any experience in their new jobs.

According to Arry, the pandemic had destroyed his livelihood as a street artist on Jl. Braga in Bandung. He had no source of income because no tourists came. When Iqbal invited him to join him in creating animation, he quickly agreed, even though he had to learn. He also gained new knowledge on angles and perspective in drawing animation backgrounds.

Iqbal said that Tumaritis Reborn was not merely an activity just to fill time. Although he has no capital, he dreams of boosting Indonesia’s animation industry.

A number of culinary entrepreneurs in Bandung have also innovated their businesses. For example, M Nurul Hudha, the 44-year-old owner of Warung Kopi Imah Babaturan, is attracting new customers by prioritizing hygiene for the food he sells online. Ojek (motorcycle taxi) drivers who deliver his orders are provided a mask and liquid hand sanitizer.

KOMPAS/REGINA RUKMORINI

Mix of wedang spices produced by Fitnasih (29), in packaging, as seen April 2020.

Nurul Hudha also gives customers free newspapers on weekends. According to him, the incentives are intended to build customer trust.The success stories of Tuti, Fitnasih, Asep, Iqbal, and Nurul Hudha show that the difficulties that have arisen during the pandemic can also be used to whip up creativity and innovation. The pandemic is certainly not just a story of economic collapse. (TATANG MULYANA SINAGA/MACHRADIN WAHYUDI RITONGA)