Lisa Siregar

The children of Cilincing, North Jakarta, are studying circus skills and English with Clowns Without Borders volunteer Dan Roberts, below. (Photos courtesy of Rangga Rinjani)

Slum Kids Juggle Learning and Fun

Under a bright midday sun on Friday, a group of children sat cross-legged in a house in the North Jakarta slum neighborhood of Cilincing. Aged 9 to 15, the children spent the afternoon reading and writing by dim lamplight and the sunlight spilling in through the windows.

A tall American with a ponytail stood before them, calling roll. One of the students, Mina, had arrived late for class.

“Don’t go by rubber time, OK?” the American said in fluent Indonesian, referring to the perceived local tendency toward unpunctuality.

The girl smiled shyly and joined her friends on the floor.

Dan Roberts, 25, has been giving 11 children — all members of his Hidung Merah Circus (Red Nose Circus) — free English lessons on Tuesday and Friday afternoons for about five weeks, and free circus-skills classes at the same time since January. His close friend of 13 years, Dedi, a vocalist in an indie rock band, helps the children with their reading and writing, while Roberts, focuses on teaching them juggling, acrobatics, clowning and other circus skills.

Roberts graduated from Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts in 2006, having taken a circus-arts program in his freshman year.

“Circus is a beautiful tool to get self-esteem for the children, and they also get to work together,” Roberts said.

In the United States, Roberts worked for youth circuses, including Circus Smirkus, Cirque du Soleil’s Cirque du Monde and Chicago’s CircEsteem, which is how he met Moshe Coen, who heads the US branch of the comic relief group Clowns Without Borders.

Raised around the world, Roberts had spent six years in Jakarta, attending Jakarta International School until his graduation in 2002, and Coen encouraged him to write up a proposal to get the funding he needed to return to Indonesia as a Clowns Without Borders volunteer.

He formed the Red Nose Circus in 2008, with the idea of entertaining children in slum areas.

Before the English course started, Roberts did everything himself.

“Now it’s me, Dedi and Pak Maman [the driver],” Roberts said. Maman is also a student in his English class.

Roberts speaks fluent Indonesian, and is well-versed in neighborhood slang, which helps him communicate easily with the Cilincing residents, especially his students.

Roberts, spurred on by Mina’s lateness, started the class by teaching the students how to give the time in English.

He often explains things in Indonesian, he said, and asks questions in English.

Unlike many teachers, Dedi and Roberts joke around in class to get the students to pay attention.

Dedi, for example, calls some of the children by celebrity names, like Avril Lavigne or Beyonce, which usually arouses laughter. Getting to know the children’s families is another way Roberts makes them feel comfortable about being in school.

“Ipul, your mom told me that if you could answer a question during English class, she would cook yellow rice,” Dedi said. Rice flavored and colored yellow with fresh turmeric is commonly served at celebrations in Jakarta.

Ipul, whom Dedi said had been having trouble reading, looked at him in silence, then extended his hand for a marker.

“OK, let me do it,” Ipul said, heading to the whiteboard, and the class erupted into cheers

Roberts and Dedi said some of the students still couldn’t read well, but others were very smart.

“Which is why I always tell them not to be lazy,” Roberts said.

During the afternoon, Roberts called aside one of the boys who had been skipping classes at the state school he attends.

Speaking in Indonesian, he told the boy to go back to the course, otherwise the school might punish him and not let Roberts pay for him anymore.

For those in need of financial assistance, Roberts also pays the state school fees of the children who attend his circus and English classes.

He said that one of the biggest problems in educating children in slum areas was that the children had formerly worked to earn money for their parents.

“I have to deal with the parents too, although I have to be careful not to make it sound like I’m better than them,” Roberts said, stressing the importance of not coming across as an arrogant Westerner.

“I’m no better than the people here, I’m just a man who was raised in a Western society, where education is a top priority, and I just want to help them to learn that it’s important,” Roberts said.

Neng, 9, said that outside school hours she still shucked mussels, earning about Rp 6,000 to Rp 8,000 (60 to 80 cents) a day for her parents, as did many of her friends.

The children’s transition from workers to students and performers has not been easy on them.

“When I first got here, the children were completely different than what you see now. The girls flocked together in one corner, while the boys went crazy,” Roberts said.

After several circus classes, the children began to feel at ease with one another, and now there is no segregation.

Roberts said life in America was good, but it had started to lack meaning for him.

He earns money to fund his projects in Jakarta by clowning and working abroad, such as recently acting as a physical theater consultant at Southwestern University in Austin, Texas, for three weeks.

“They paid me well, it covered my costs in Indonesia for a year,” Roberts said.

He said his priority right now was meeting the paperwork requirements to make the Red Nose Circus a nongovernmental organization.

Tonight, Roberts and his friends are throwing a fund-raising event for the circus and to support the children’s education. The event starts at 7 p.m. at De Hooi bar and club, with performances by Slank, Opie Andaresta and Steven and the Coconut Treez.

Roberts said belonging to Hidung Merah also gave the children some time for play. The circus session, which starts directly after English class, is when the children get up and juggle balls and try their hand at slapstick.

“When they are out there [on the streets] they get scared of the bigger people who make fun of them. In here, they can just act goofy and just be themselves.”


Hidung Merah Circus
Benefit Performance

Aug. 19
De Hooi Cafe, Second Floor
Jl. Metro Duta Raya Blok B4 No. 31
Plaza II, Pondok Indah

Performances  by:
Opie Andaresta, De’Jaka, Gomez and Friends, Relax, DJ Max Don, Nana Mirdad and Dan Roberts.

Free flow beer from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Tickets are Rp 150,000

All proceeds to Hidung Merah Circus
Buy tickets behind the bar or
Tel. 08121 929 0142
Email: dan@circusindonesia. org   

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