FOUNTAIN MONEY

the money from the Globus fountain is regularly transferred to the orphan’s house

“Well, there will be about 12 kg”, Globus guard says lifting a plastic bucket full of coins. Globus is a large undeground shopping area in Kiev main square – Maydan Nezalejnosti. “Sometimes, we fish out two buckets of coins in a week. On weekends and holidays people usually throw more coins”. Each Thursday evening some movement begins, unnoticed by Globus visitors. At 20.00 the sanitary technician stops the pumps which bring water into the fountain, and the water gradually flows down. At 22.45 moving staircase is stopped and the light goes off. At 23.00 the doors are closed for visitors. By this time the fountain is already empty. In a puddle there is a heap of coins, thrown by the visitors.

“We have to clean the fountain each week, as the water decays because of coins”, explains Globus administrator. In a few minutes two men and tree women wearing boots come. They step into the fountain, the coins crackle. In the middle of the fountain they put their plastic swaps into the puddle and begin heaping up coins. In order to move hundreds of kopecks, a person needs to drag the swap with all their might. This job is done by men only.

The administrator keeps an eye on workers, following each their movement. “We have a high labour fluidity. A person gets the job of a cleaner and then moves to another job. That is why there can be no trust here”, the administrator shrugs his shoulders.

In 20 minutes there are two heaps of coins in the fountain. Women approach them and begin drawing the coins out by means of special scoops with holes to make the water out of money. They lay the coins into a 5 liter plastic bucket. 10 minutes of coins jingle and the bucket if full. It is heavy and difficult to lift from the ground. The guard smiles at this.

In a week there are about 300-500 grivnas collected under the water (60-100 US dollars). “Once a month we transfer all the money to the orpan’s boarding school #21 in Puscha Voditsa near Kiev”, the administrator tells, while the cleaners are polishing the fountain’s bottom with detergents. “We bring this money into the bank located here in Globus, and it transfers them to the boarding school. The highest amount we get is about 2000 grivnas a month, the lowest is 1300. But we still need to dry and count the coins. Let’s go.”

Cleaners go away, the guard takes the bucket of coins and goes by Globus corridors to the sealed iron door. He takes the seal off, gets the key and opens the lock. The money is kept in a narrow long room, on the wooden table in the middle. The table is covered by coins which are being dried. It takes about 2 days, afterwards, the coins are sorted and new party is put on the table.

Under the wall there are 7 large linen bags with signs: 1 grivna, 50 kopecks, 25 kopecks, 10 kopecks, 5 kopecks, 2 kopecks, 1 kopeck. The coins of other states are put into separate boxes. They are also given to the bank. Very often there are dollars, euros, European cents. If the bank doesn’t accept the coins of some countries, Globus administration leaves it as a souvenir.

The coins are sorted and counted by cleaners. They do this job at the time which is free of floors cleaning. For an hour or two they are locked in the room with the guard. “We sit silently and don’t talk, as it’s easy to lose count”, the guard says.

At 2 a.m. pure water begins to flow into the fountain. Until 8 a.m. it will be full of water, and by the afternoon first coins will appear in it.

The boarding school gets money for five years

“We get fountain money each month for five years”, says 57 year old Alla Koshechko, the director of the boarding school #21 at Puscha Voditsa near Kiev, where 121 children live and study. “We need it very much, because often either shoe laces or pants are torn, detergents or medicine end. We know that we have extra money we can spend for this. Recently our tape recorder broke, but now we are able to buy a new one”.

(c) The article by Bogdana Yevseyeva from Interesniy Kiev web-site.

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