Invisible Titans. What it’s like to be a yard-keeper in Ukraine

Halyna the yard-keeper

6 a.m.: the sun is just warming the frosty air. The entrance doors are hitting around the building: the earliest risers are hurrying to work. Halyna is already booted and spurred to start work, dressed in a yellow vest with a broom in her hands, and a trash can next to her.

Halyna shyly asks not to take close-up photos because she has no teeth. This March morning she's wearing three sweaters and three pairs of trousers. She hurries to get to work because 11-below-zero frost pinches her ruddy cheeks. Halyna Rakhmanova is 64 years old, and she's a yard-keeper.

"Now I have 7500 square meters, it's six entrances, the yard is a red line," the utility service worker describes her property. They're located in one of the Dnipro residential areas.

Rustle-rustle, we hear the yard being cleaned. Between movements, the woman leans over to pull out the grass that has sprouted between the asphalt. The closer it is to seven o'clock, the more people are on the street. Some residents greet the woman.

Halyna has been cleaning in this yard for 17 years. She happened to get here by accident. Back in the early 2000s, she worked in Synelnykovo as a cook at a state farm, feeding farmers in the fields. But there were reductions, so she had to look for another job and came across a vacancy for a street cleaner in Dnipro.

"It's difficult at first because it's unusual. Sometimes I felt disgusted, for example, when I worked with garbage collectors; they used to be cleaned by yard-keepers. You open them, and the water gushes from there, they got very dirty."

But almost all of them were welded a few years ago. It was difficult for the Dnieper yard keepers to service garbage collectors: anything could fall on the utility service workers from the chute, even syringes with needles. Today, in the rooms where waste bins used to go, there are pantries of utility service inventory. And there a yard-keeper can hide from the wind and drink tea during the break.

"My working day starts at 6 am. The break is from 10 to 11. We work in any weather. In spring and summer, we sweep; and rake the leaves in autumn. By the way, it's the hardest job, because a lot of leaves fall. And in winter, we fight with snow and sprinkle the streets. When it rains, we don't sit idle either: we go and collect papers."

After sweeping, the woman starts cleaning the yard bins and then collects garbage on the lawn. A lot of stuff accumulated: cigarettes, wrappers, and twigs. Halyna is almost invisible behind the trees, we can only hear her exhale after straightening herself up.

Is it hard to engage in physical labor at this age? Yes, says Halyna, but the body gets used to everything. And she just never has time to get sick; one needs to clean all year round.

"Muscles ache, legs and arms cramp, but it's not because of work, but because of age. You can't get anywhere from it."

The main thing, as the utility service worker shares, is that people walk clean streets and don't complain about her work. The woman is pleased when the residents say a simple "thank you."

Halyna receives UAH 4,780 a month for her work. A little, but it's money. The woman was offered to return to work as a cook. But she refused; as she says, it's not bad here.

Tetiana the foreperson

Tetiana Chupryna, a foreperson, watches Halyna's work. Almost every morning begins with a tour of the territory. 12 street cleaners under the leadership of the woman. Each cleaner has more than 7 thousand squares for cleaning.

"I have to come, see how the yard-keeper feels, remind the health and safety regulations that it's necessary to wear a vest, either a winter one or summer one, check the tool for serviceability," the woman says.

Now the janitors have all the necessary equipment to work. Although there were times when they were given only birch brooms. Tetiana remembers all this because she has been working in the utility service field since 1984. During this time, she had to clean the streets herself.

"I came to this firm and worked as an accountant for several years. Then it turned out that I needed my own apartment. So I had to sweep streets for 2 years and got official housing. And now I'm a foreperson."

Most people working as street cleaners are more than 60-70 years of age. Many of them are drunks, says Tetiana, but there is no other staff for these conditions. Young people don't want to work because it's unprestigious and dirty.

Although, according to the woman, every job should be valued, and this one has its advantages. Among the advantages, there are being in the fresh air, and a short working day, you're free after 14 o'clock. Now, if there aren't enough employees, Tetiana can go out in the street and clean herself.

"Not all people have a good attitude to our work. Some despise it. They can put their cars on lawns on purpose, I've even had conflicts, or leave behind waste near the benches, although there's a bin nearby. It's just hard for them to clean up after themselves. Somehow citizens don't always value cleanliness."

Indeed, the work of yard-keepers is difficult and necessary. The least that anyone can do to help them is to treat this work with respect. And yet to notice this work and the people who do it. Superheroes don't always wear cloaks, sometimes they have brooms instead.

Photo: Oleksandra Tkach for Rubryka