Karen Lagman likes playing a character far from her comfort zone. The 33-year-old mother of three from the Philippines, has mastered the walking style of the Freej cartoon character Um Khammas. For the past three years, she has been donning the costume designed after the old Emirati woman for events at malls and corporate occasions. Ms Lagman is a character operator at Invent Creative Event Solutions in Dubai.
7am
By this time, I have to finish having breakfast of rice, sausage, eggs and fresh juice. I also do stretching, sit-ups and walk for 10 minutes to exercise my body because it is very tiring inside the costume. These are big and weigh around 14 kilograms.
8am
I reach our warehouse in Jebel Ali for a 10am event. We have to be an hour before the event starts at the location to dress up. School, charities, government agencies and corporate events take place in the mornings and those at malls take place in the afternoons. There are five Freej characters and we five girls - others younger than me - all go together. On December 2, we went to the City Centre malls in Dubai, Ajman, Fujairah, Sharjah and Umm Al Quwain. At the warehouse, we have 30 Freej costumes. These are expensive - costing Dh250,000 (US$68,065) for the five costumes. I have to pack the costumes and see to it that these are complete with shoes, pants, body, dress and, of course, the head.
9am
We go to the green room in the location and make sure it is completely private, that no one sees us without the heads of the costumes. This is the rule of Invent and Freej. We are also not allowed to speak while in the costume. We can communicate only with signs.
10am
We are sometimes up on the stage or roam around, take pictures with children and make fun. We make moves according to each character. During the shift, we take a 10-minute break every 25 minutes because it is suffocating inside a costume and we need to drink a lot of water and make sure we do not sweat. Usually, the events are for four hours, but on December 2, we spent two hours at each mall. Each of us has escorts to make sure we do not bump into things or fall because our line of vision is restricted inside a costume. Once a child bit my little finger and tried to pull my shayla, and sometimes children hit us because they do not like a specific character. The escorts help us in these situations.
2pm
After the event, we put the costumes into the laundry. Some days, when I finish early, I come to the office and help out as an admin assistant.
6pm
I go home and cook dinner of chicken adobo and eat by 9pm.
10 pm
Sometimes, I call my children and husband in the Philippines and on weekends watch a movie. Other days, I go to sleep early.
