Barber struggles to make a living<\/p>\n
By Yoko N. Sari<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Many people see Jakarta as a place to escape
\nfrom the endless pain of living in poverty in their home towns.<\/p>\n
The number of people migrating to the capital city rises
\nsteadily every year.<\/p>\n
People from all walks of life, including farmers, flock to the
\ncapital with hopes of improving their standard of living.
\nHowever, working in Jakarta is not as easy as they imagine before
\narrive.<\/p>\n
Those who are clever enough to take advantage of any
\nopportunity manage to make their dreams come true, while others,
\nespecially those who have no special skills, fail. Many even end
\nup becoming criminals, beggars, squatters and prostitutes .<\/p>\n
Suyono, 55, a barber who works under an overpass in East
\nJakarta, says it is easier to make a living in Jakarta than in
\nhis hometown.<\/p>\n
Still, his life is not easy. With six daughters and a wife to
\nfeed every day, he often has to sell something when he fails to
\nbring home enough money.<\/p>\n
\"Yeah, I have had to sell my belongings one by one just to
\nsurvive,\" he sighs.<\/p>\n
Suyono has been working as a street barber on Jl. Dewi
\nSartika, East Jakarta, since the late 1960s when he left his
\nhometown in Tegal, Central Java.<\/p>\n
He says that he could not stand being poor and not being able
\nto do anything about it, back home. His parents were too poor to
\npay for Suyono's education, and he had to drop out of elementary
\nschool.<\/p>\n
\"I decided to go to Jakarta because I was tired of doing
\nnothing. I remember it was midnight when I left my house, with a
\nfriend of mine, to come to this city,\" Suyono said.<\/p>\n
It was his friend who took Suyono to Jakarta, gave him his
\nfirst job and protected him from the harsher side of life in
\nJakarta. His first job was as a helper in his friend's coffee
\nstall in Jatinegara, East Jakarta.<\/p>\n
\"I was able to save a little money from that job and finally I
\nmanaged to open my own coffee stall -- here, in my current spot,\"
\nSuyono said,<\/p>\n
By that time he had already married and had three daughters,
\nbut Suyono says his income as the owner of a coffee shop was not
\nbad. He was able to send his daughters to school and to provide
\nenough food for all the members of his family.<\/p>\n
One man job<\/p>\n
Suyono says that at that time several street barbers set up
\nstalls next to his coffee shop. Since he served customers only
\nwhen they ordered coffee, he had enough time to observe and watch
\nthe barbers doing their job.<\/p>\n
He began to learn how to cut hair, practicing initially on his
\nchildren.<\/p>\n
At the same time he began to feel uncomfortable with his
\ncoffee business. He resolved to close his shop and become a
\nstreet barber.<\/p>\n
\"I did not feel comfortable seeing every member of my family
\nworking hard to help me with the (coffee) business. And I saw
\nthat being a barber was a one man job: neither my wife nor any of
\nmy children would have to help me. So I made the change,\" he
\nrecalls.<\/p>\n
Equipped with one chair, a mirror, scissors, razors, and a
\ncomb, he launched the new business.<\/p>\n
After 30 years, Suyono is still working as a barber in the
\nsame spot. The number of his fellow barbers has fallen over the
\nyears, however.<\/p>\n
Survive<\/p>\n
\"Well, three of my friends have decided to give up the
\nstruggle here and have gone back to their hometowns,\" says
\nSuyono.<\/p>\n
He explains that the life of a street barber is not as easy as
\nit looks -- especially for those operating in an area where
\nstreet trading has been banned. Suyono, like many other street
\nand sidewalk vendors, is forced to play \"hide and seek\" with
\nofficials from the city public order office.<\/p>\n
On many occasions he has had to leave all his equipment
\nunattended, when city officials have chased him away.<\/p>\n
Suyono's daily income is not fixed: \"I have no fixed income
\nbecause the number of customers varies. The cost of my services
\nis not fixed. Sometimes people pay Rp 2,000, sometimes, 1,500 and
\nsometimes only Rp 1,000.\" .<\/p>\n
Suyono realizes that his customers have low incomes and have
\nto fight as hard as they can to make ends meet.<\/p>\n
He said his customers included squatters, street vendors,
\nstudents and mentally handicapped people.<\/p>\n
\"What should I do when a crazy man comes up to me and asks to
\nhave his hair cut? Well, I just cut off all of his hair!,\" he
\nsays, laughing.<\/p>\n
Can he provide enough food for his family with his uncertain
\nincome? Of course not, he replies. And that is why he once tried
\nselling gas lighters to make extra money.<\/p>\n
\"I sold gas lighters, fixed the broken ones and filled the
\nempty ones with gas. I made enough money from that business. But
\nunfortunately I lost all my capital,\" he says.<\/p>\n
One day he went to the market and spent Rp 65,000 on lighter
\nsupplies, he recalls. Shortly afterwards city officers raided his
\nstall and confiscated the lot. His side business never recovered,
\nalthough he still sells a few second-hand gas lighters.<\/p>\n
\"I lost it all and now I am only offering my services as a
\nbarber.\"<\/p>\n
Fortunate<\/p>\n
Suyono has six daughters, three of whom have been fortunate
\nenough to graduate from elementary school. For the other three
\ndaughters this was not possible because there was no money.<\/p>\n
He says one of his daughters has learned how to cut hair from
\nhim. She still cannot help her family, however, because Suyono
\ncan not afford to rent a kiosk for her.<\/p>\n
\"She can't just open a stall on the sidewalk, like me. She is
\na woman and she would be ashamed to do that,\" Suyono says, adding
\nthat it costs at least Rp 1 million to rent a small kiosk.<\/p>\n
In spite of everything, Suyono is still convinced that life is
\nbetter in Jakarta than in his home town.<\/p>\n
\"I don't want to return to my home town. I don't have land or
\na house there and I could not make a living there. I prefer to
\nstay here,\" he smiles.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/barber-struggles-to-make-a-living-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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