Today is the 2nd of March 2021. Which means it's been a year since Indonesia announced our first 3 cases of COVID-19. One full year of a pandemic, pretty crazy isn't it. In true Indonesian fashion,
Selamat Ulang Tahun COVID-19 di Indonesia
Semoga pendek umur, dan sengsara selalu
I basically just wished Indonesia's COVID-19 a happy birthday and may it live shortly and be miserable always HAHAHA. Although also today, it's just been announced that the British mutation variant has been found in Indonesia. Two cases of it. Seriously what a great "gift" for its first birthday.
Anyway yes it's been a wild year for all of us here in Indonesia. I've tasted the bitterness of this pandemic. And don't really remember tasting any of its sweetness. Perhaps apart from "nature returning" and also having less pollution because of reduced movement. Indonesia and the world have endured a lot in this pandemic. I wish it will all come to an end pretty soon. It's been a tiring year for us.
This pandemic has killed our flower business. I have to lay off my workers, and I have also lost one of our best people due to the virus. Even though we managed to switch to vegetable farming, it was just so painful to see our flowers unharvested. These flowers which we've planned so well and tirelessly grown for the auspicious month of Rajab and for Hari Raya to be left alone in the greenhouses.
That was when Jakarta went into partial lockdown, and events and weddings were all cancelled. Back in March I foolishly was still hopeful that the situation will get better in May (for Hari Raya). But boy was I wrong. And hopelessness after hopelessness, with a heavy heart I stopped our flower productions in April. We last planted our flowers in April, this was the remaining seedlings that we had.
After that we tried to maintain our nursery. But seeing how the condition isn't improving in June, we decided to just cut our nursery and plant the remaining seedlings. And once again, hopelessness after hopelessness, things were not improving. We lost Pa Irwan in August. Co-incidentally it was also the last time that we delivered flowers. A week after his passing. From then on, no more flowers.
I tried to maintain my workers. We rotated them (letting them work on alternate weeks), just to make sure they still earn some money. But in September we couldn't sustain it anymore. Our customers have paid most of their purchases and there's no way I can sustain my workers. With a heavy heart, I laid off about 80% of our workers. All of them are day-labourers, so they were only getting paid if they have work to do. But I still gifted them with a farewell gift. Hoping to end this on a sweet note.
The vegetables sales were doing quite well. But everything has to come to a stop in the middle of October-November ish. This is for another time haha. I know the virus has been pretty brutal on all of us. But once again I am reminded that everything is in a constant flux. Everything keeps on going and changing. The pandemic might have ended our flower business, but a new chapter is unfolding now.
Anyway on another hand, I have also witnessed the effects of this pandemic to the rest. Firstly, when China went into lockdown, our material supplier for the factory was also forced to close. We placed an order back in November 2019, hoping that it will be delivered to us by end of February. Due to the lockdown, we ended up receiving the order in JUNE! That's because the factory was closed and only reopened in April. And this reopening wasn't full either. So yeah.
Due to this our material supply kinda went haywire. And also back in November last year there was some shipping crisis around the world (and China). We placed an order in September, thinking it will be delivered in end November. It ended up being delivered in January and February. Crazy! Apparently it's because of the pandemic. When China reopened in July, many people were ordering to China. Due to the high demands, the ships were all out, and they become rare to transit in China. Or something like this. Because of this, shipping costs have increased, and so do our material's price.
On the uglier side of things, I've seen the worst in us in the pandemic. I remember how back in March everyone was hoarding masks and sanitizers and food supplies. Then some people were reselling masks at exorbitant prices. I understand that we were all in crisis mode. But to really disregard the plight of others, it's kinda ridiculous isn't it. And of course worst of all, the news where our minister of social affair was arrested for corruption of donations for the poor. That's really fucked up.
I have also seen how ignorant many of us are. From spreading hoaxes, to spreading unverified information, and believing in them. We really seem to take an illusionary comfort in our ignorance. And it isn't helping us, or others. I think we should all have a revolution in the way we educate our children. Make science a priority or something? So that people have basic knowledge of viruses and vaccines.
And how some of my country's leaders were taking things way too lightly in the beginning of the pandemic. I'm pretty sure things could have been very different if they take things slightly more seriously. I am glad that our current health minister is a data guy. I think we need realist leaders. Realist leaders that believe in science and see things in data, especially in such health crisis.
Of course, not all things were dark and gloomy. I have also seen the goodness in people. People who helped others in times of crisis. People who selflessly raise funds and donate food to other people. People supporting one another on their businesses, especially now where everyone goes online.
COVID-19 has put us in the dark. The world was plunged into chaos. And I often wonder why does this happen to us. I hate to say this and I think it's unfair for me to say this. But what if COVID-19 was meant to happen anyway. Sometimes I feel it's the result of our ignorance. The way we treat this planet and its inhabitants, non-human and humans alike. The result of our ignorance when the virus break out. And of course our ignorance as it breaks out. Refusing to adhere to protocols and so on.
I do understand this is a tricky matter. For my country at least, we have been struggling with choice of health, or economy, or people. Three of which are interconnected to one another. Choose one, the other will struggle, and so on. Perhaps we can all learn from this for future pandemic. What to do, and I hope we can all prepare better. If we still continue to treat this planet the way we used to treat it, then COVID-19 won't be the last pandemic we'll encounter. Some say it's just a dress rehearsal.
I'd like to remind everyone that 3 out of 4 emerging diseases come from animals.
And on a lighter note, people are now getting vaccinated. The healthcare workers of my hometown have been vaccinated, and most are now getting their 2nd doses. Now we're vaccinating the elderlies and other workers. There's a shimmering light appearing on the horizon now. But no, we are not out of the storm yet. We just got to be vigilant and patient I guess. But the storm will pass. As always.
So where do we go from here?
