Clowns of the Pandemic Generation

KOMPAS/NIKSON SINAGA

Ilham Afrizal (12) became a clown art worker by walking through the overhang of a shop on Jalan Prof. HM Yamin, Medan, North Sumatra, Tuesday (2/2/2021). The Covid-19 pandemic in Medan has made more and more children become clowns.

Dancing clowns are emerging in greater numbers in Medan, North Sumatra. They are school-age youngsters who are unable to undertake online learning or people who have lost their jobs as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

There heat was scorching in Medan city on Tuesday at noon (2/2/2021). On the terrace of a shop on Jalan Prof HM Yamin, Ilham Afrizal, 12, in his baby clown costume was entertaining visitors in front of the bakery. To the tune of a dangdut (Hindi-Malay styled pop music) remix form a music box hanging from his neck, he danced.

However, those entering and leaving the bakery just ignored him. He thus moved to another shop to try his luck. “I’ve been going around from 07.00. I’ve only gotten Rp10,000 as of noon,” said Ilham.

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Ilham has over the past year worked as a clown to earn extra income for his family. Losing his job at an air conditioner service shop, his father has become an app-based motorcycle taxi driver. His mother has also done even less clothes washing work as her employer had been dismissed from work.

I often don’t have enough money to pay clown costume rental. So, the sum owed has to be settled on the following day.

Ilham leaves home at 07.00 to a clown costume rental house on Jalan Pahlawan near his house. Then he walks along 3 kilometers to Beruang Market on Jalan Madong Lubis. “I have to rush to the market because it’s teeming with people in the morning,” he said.

After the market is deserted, Ilham walks to the settlement on Jalan Gurilla to amuse children. At noon, he is roaming shop terraces around Jalan Prof HM Yamin. His activity continues until midnight in his search for fortune at restaurants.

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Ilham’s life is a grim portrait of children’s existence amid the Covid-19 pandemic. When his peers of the same age are learning, he is dancing to earn about Rp60,000 per day, of which Rp40,000 is spent on costume and music box rental. Sometimes he is mugged by thugs. “I often don’t have enough money to pay clown costume rental. So, the sum owed has to be settled on the following day,” said Ilham.

KOMPAS/NIKSON SINAGA

Andre Sumadi (42) became a clown art worker at the T-junction of Jalan Raden Saleh, Medan, North Sumatra, Tuesday (2/2/2021).

Yearning for school

Ilham is longing to go to school as he did before the Covid-19 pandemic. At present, he is a sixth grader in Azizi Primary School. His school doesn’t arrange distance learning because the majority of its students can’t afford to buy gadgets and data packages. They go to school three times a week to collect study material and deliver homework assignments.

But many students don’t do their tasks, including Ilham. “Sometimes I do it once a week. I don’t know how to do my homework so that I frequently don’t go to school,” added Ilham.

Apart from children, many adults as dismissal victims are now also forced to become clowns. Andre Sumadi, 42, has been a clown since he lost his job as a latex glove factory worker in Deli Serdang in August 2020. By midnight on Thursday (28/1), he was dancing at the T-junction of Jalan Raden Saleh, across the Merdeka Walk fancy snack center, Merdeka Square, Medan.

I’ve had to do it for the sake of my wife and children.

Dancing from morning, Andre got Rp130,000. He could still smile after paying Rp60,000 for costume rental and Rp25,000 for return-trip transportation cost. “It’s not so bad to be able to take home Rp45,000,” he said.

Andre suffered a hard blow when he was dismissed. He had no idea how to continue to support his family and pay his children’s school expenses. At first he refused the offer to act as a clown. “But with the pressing condition, I’ve had to do it for the sake of my wife and children,” he said.

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Besides the clowns, scavengers are also getting ubiquitous in Medan. They are carrying sacks to gather plastic bottles they find while walking. Not only adults, many children also join the scavenging work.

KOMPAS/RIZA FATHONI

A mother dressed in a clown costume feeds her daughter during a break on Jalan Raya Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, Saturday (6/2/2021).

Mikael Silaban, 13, and his younger brother, Ebenezer, 9, have been scavenging since the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic. They are taken to the road by their father, a motorized pedicab driver. By scavenging, Mikael collects 5-8 kilograms of plastic bottles daily that are sold at Rp10,000-Rp16,000. By midnight on Thursday, he and his brother were waiting to be picked up by their father on the sidewalk of Jalan Gajah Mada. Ebenezer was too sleepy. He was sound asleep on Mikael’s feet.

“We’re scavenging from morning. Usually father picks us up at eleven in the evening,” said Mikael, a seventh-year student of State Junior High School 14 Medan. His school doesn’t provide online learning but assigns homework several times a week.

Also read: Scavenging Fate in Front of Shops

North Sumatra University (USU) sociologist Muba Simanihuruk said the Covid-19 pandemic had changed the socio-economic face of Medan city. “A number of new jobs become the features of city corners, like clowns, silver men and scavengers now getting widespread. This is the city façade that has never been imagined before,” noted Muba. Silver men are those who color their bodies with silvery paint and ask for money at intersections.

According to Muba, a pandemic always has its impacts on the social and economic lives of residents. The government also faces the dilemma of handling its health or economic impact. Every decision has its own implication.

Head of the North Sumatra Manpower Office, Baharuddin Siagian, said the Covid-19 pandemic had made many people jobless. “So far, dismissals from work as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic have been going on,” added Baharuddin.

Andre is one of the 1.2 million workers impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic in North Sumatra. Ilham, Mikael and Ebenezer are among the youngsters who have lost their learning opportunity due to their plunging family welfare since the outbreak of this disease.

On Jalan Raden Saleh, Medan, by midnight, Andre keeps dancing to entertain travelers. He, along with Ilham, Mikael, Ebenezer and a lot more are hoping and praying for a speedy end of the Covid-19 pandemic so that they can again be engaged in their previous activities before long.

This article was translated by Aris Prawira.