避難者宅を世話する善意の「管理人」　ウクライナ

【イルピンＡＦＰ＝時事】エウヘン・エルピティフォロフさん（３７）は、ロシアのウクライナ侵攻により避難した友人宅を管理するため、家の鍵を預かっている。（写真は、エルピティフォロフさんが預かっている鍵）
　エルピティフォロフさんは鍵の山を手に「全部で１９本ある」と話す。
　生物学者のエルピティフォロフさんは、庭師として生計を立てているが、今は「鍵の番人」としても活動している。
　過去数か月間、首都キーウをめぐる攻防で大きな被害を受けたブチャやイルピンを回り、避難した住民の家と植物の世話をしている。
　泥棒よけのために家の電灯をともしたり、割れたガラスを片付けたりするほか、家の所有者が必要とする物を避難先に発送したり、庭を少し手入れしたりする。
　この活動が口づてに広まると、エルピティフォロフさんの元に鍵が集まってきた。「手紙で送られてくることもあれば、近所の人から引き取ったり、（隠し場所の）ドアマットの下から見つけ出したりすることもある」という。
　鍵は、お礼のコーヒーやチョコレートと共に届けられることも。善意でこうした活動をしているからだ。
　友人たちが家に戻ってくる際には、「喜ばせたくて」花束や果物などちょっとした贈り物を置いておくという。
　■「ガスマスク」が役立つことも
　だが時には厳しい現実に直面する。「最悪の仕事」は、数週間電気が途絶えた冷蔵庫や冷凍庫の腐った食べ物の片付けだ。
「あまりにひどい臭いで気絶しそうになる」と話した。誰かがくれたソ連時代のガスマスクを重宝しているという。
　ロシア軍による犯罪行為の象徴となっているブチャで、エルピティフォロフさんは新築アパートの前に駐車した。ほとんどの窓ガラスは爆風で吹き飛ばされている。
　このアパートの一室では植物に水やりをするとすぐに立ち去った。部屋に残る侵攻の痕跡は、ロシア兵が壁に書いた「ドアを壊して悪いね」というメッセージだけだ。
　屋根が吹き飛ばされた学校を見下ろすイルピンのアパートでは、スマートフォンで鉢植えの植物の動画を撮った。外国にいる持ち主に動画を見せるためだ。
　次に立ち寄った家では、作業員らが壁の焼け焦げた家に新しい屋根をかけていた。エルピティフォロフさんは足を止めると、炎で激しく焼かれた常緑樹の若木を手入れした。
　この木とウクライナの人々が重なるという。「片側は焼けてしまったが、もう片側には成長し続ける強さがある」【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/07/07-10:19）

Yevgen Yelpitiforov counts out the keys of the homes he has been given to look after by friends who have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded.
There's 19 in all, he said, cradling the bunch in his hands.
Since the war began the 37-year-old biologist, who works as a gardener to make ends meet, has added another notch to his crowded CV -- as a key-keeper.
For the last few months he has been criss-crossing the devastated Kyiv suburbs of Bucha and Irpin looking after homes and house plants abandoned when their owners fled for their lives.
After the liberation, many of my acquaintances asked me to come and see if their houses were still intact, if they had windows or doors, he told AFP.
Yevgen would go around and turn on a light to ward off looters, clear up the broken glass, send items on to their owners, or do a bit of gardening.
Soon -- as word got around -- the keys began accumulating. They would be sent by mail, or I would take them from a neighbour, or from under the doormat.
Some keys came with coffee or chocolates, as tokens of gratitude, as Yevgen had been doing it all from the goodness of his heart.
Returning friends would often find a little present from him, a bouquet of flowers or fruit to make them feel happy.
If it was me, they would have helped me too, he insisted. These are my friends, all the keys I have are from the people I know.
- Gas mask for the fridge -
But sometimes the job stank, literally. The hardest part was clearing out rotten food from fridges and freezers left for weeks without electricity.
The smell is so bad you could pass out, he said.
Which is why he is so grateful that someone gave him a Soviet-era gas mask.
Even after a thorough cleanup, apartments still need to be aired out a few more times because the smell remains for a week or two.
In Bucha, which has become a symbol of crimes carried out by Russian troops, Yevgen parked his car in front of a brand new apartment complex, most of whose windows were blown out.
Nothing but a pile of metal remained of one car parked outside while another was riddled with shrapnel.
Yevgen stayed just long enough in a small apartment to water some plants. The only sign of the war was a note on the wall left by Russian soldiers, Excuse us for breaking in.
The front door, like most others on this floor, had to be replaced.
- Sex toys -
A television voice actor before the war, Oleksandr Furman spent April as a key-keeper, looking after six Kyiv apartments abandoned by his friends.
His most unusual mission was tidying away the sex toys his ex-girlfriend and her new partner left behind after fleeing the city just after the invasion began in the early hours of February 24.
She told me, 'I can't ask my mother to do it,' Oleksandr said, bursting out laughing. I hid them well...
I was lucky. I wasn't shot at, missiles didn't fall near me, he said. And by helping the actor felt he was doing my duty by those who suffered.
Back in Irpin, Yevgen filmed some potted plants with his smartphone in a duplex overlooking a school whose roof was blown off. He would send the video to the owners who are abroad.
At his next stop, workers were putting a new roof on a house with burned walls. He paused to tend to a young evergreen shrub severely scorched by the flames.
It reminds me of the Ukrainian people, Yevgen said.
On one side it is burned, on the other it has the strength to keep growing.