[ VO ]This disinfection technician used to be the boss in his old job. But now he wears a mask and carries a sprayer.
[ VO ]And this entrepreneur was the king of entertainment, well-known all over
his hometown. But now, he wears a hazmat suit and saves lives in the 'red zone'.
[ VO ]And this is a Buddhist monk, he takes a VR camera to the cemetery.
[ VO ]During the Covid-19 era, many people have radically changed their
lives. There were many media stories about the actor who started a
bakery, the athlete who became a courier, the pilot who found a job in
IT, and artists who took second jobs driving taxis or delivering food.
[ VO ]We’ll tell just three stories of people who managed to adjust quickly and never regretted doing so.
COVID CHANGED MY JOB
ECHIZEN, JAPAN
[ Yoshinori Takada, monk ] This coronavirus needs to be seen as a chance for us
to appreciate the value of life once again.
[ Yoshinori ]I exist because my parents exist.
[ Yoshinori ]Expressing our gratitude to our ancestors is the reason for visiting their graves.
[ Yoshinori ]I'm sorry. Apologies. I'll put it here.
[ VO ]Yoshinori Takada is a Buddhist monk.
[ VO ] Armed with a VR camera, he takes his son and goes to the cemetery
to clean up a grave.
[ VO ]And this isn't the grave of a friend or relative. He doesn’t even know the people buried here.
[ Yoshinori ]So, with your permission, we'll start cleaning up the Tamamuras' grave.
TYUMEN, RUSSIA
[ Ivan Pavlovskii ] I feel the need to get back to my former energy level.
[ Ivan ] My body feels so stiff - when you're in hospital, you lie in one position all the time.
[ Ivan ]My muscles have lost their elasticity. My whole body's rigid.
[ VO ]This is Ivan’s first exercise after recovering from illness. A few months ago, he caught coronavirus.
[ VO ]He went into hospital an entrepreneur. A week after being discharged, he was back as a doctor.
[ Ivan ]For the first time in a while, I felt like I belonged somewhere.
[ IVAN PAVLOVSKII, BUSINESSMAN/DOCTOR ] I guess it's the greatest
feeling in the world when your job makes you so comfortable
MOSCOW, RUSSIA
[ Evgeny ]As soon as the pandemic hit in late March, orders dropped, lots of guys got laid off
[ Evgeny ]As a rough idea, we had 10 people working. The layoffs started: only 5 left
[ VO ]Evgeny was a glass factory shift supervisor. He wasn’t laid off, but put on
sick leave because of a chronic condition. Then he was given a leave of absence.
[ VO ]Evgeny rents the home he lives in with his wife and little daughter. He
didn’t receive all his leave pay, so his family endured some rough times.
[ LUDMILA, EVGENY'S WIFE ] Money was short We owe
our parents - his parents, my parents They helped us out
[ EVGENY MARFIN, FORMER SHIFT SUPERVISOR OF GLASS PRODUCTION ] The boss said:
'Hopefully, some orders in August'. But I have a family to feed. On June 16, I quit,
took my employment logbook
[ Evgeny ]Then I went online, got a job as a disinfection technician
[ VO ]Now Evgeny's job is to kill the virus that took away his quiet and settled life.
[ Evgeny ]45 Pyatnitskoe Highway
[ Navigator ]The route is ready
[ Yoshinori ]So, we're done weeding, now we'll polish the tombstone
ECHIZEN, JAPAN
[ Hideo ]My ancestors - my father and mother - are buried there
[ Hideo ]They're very dear to me. I'd like to take good care of their grave
[ Hideo ]My mother died about four or five years ago
[ Hideo ]My father died even earlier, over ten years ago
[ Hideo ]I can't remember exactly anymore
[ VO ]The coronavirus means that Hideo Tamamura can’t visit the cemetery.
[ VO ]So he signed a one-year contract with the monk to tidy up his parents’ grave.
[ VO ]Now, he’s waiting for a video report.
[ VO ]Yoshinori Takada takes care of graves by request, he makes videos as a kind of progress report.
[ VO ]He couldn’t say no when one parishioner asked for a favor,
and now, Yoshinori just keeps doing it.
[ Yoshinori ]And now, with your permission, I'll lay some flowers
[ VO ]Before becoming a monk, Yoshinori Takada tried various professions.
[ VO ]He was a school counselor. Then he became a politician and for
eight years was a legislative assembly member in the city of Sabae.
[ Yoshinori ]When I thought of how I could help people overcome difficulties and suffering,
[ Yoshinori ]I became interested in what religion was
[ Yoshinori ]I began to study it, and eventually, I became a monk
[ DAIMU, YOSHINORI’S SON ] I think I was 10. Dad came home with a clean-shaven head
[ Daimu ]It was the only thing that impressed me that day
[ Daimu ]I wasn't thinking about the deeper significance of it all
[ AKI, YOSHINORI’S WIFE ] To be honest, at first, it seemed that he'd done it just for fun
[ Aki ]But when he started to study to become a monk,
what struck me the most was how much he enjoyed studying
[ VO ]Becoming a monk didn’t break up Yoshinori’s family. He lives with his wife and son, as his faith permits.
TYUMEN, RUSSIA
[ Ivan ]I'd been playing 'hospital' since I was 5. It was the most alluring thing ever for me
[ IVAN PAVLOVSKY, DOCTOR ] At school, I didn't think I'd
be an engineer or architect, it was a given that I'd be a doctor
[ VO ]Ivan’s childhood dream came true. He finished medical school and became a doctor.
[ VO ]But it didn’t pay well, so first he went into the pharmaceutical business and then the amusement industry:
escape rooms, rides, an upside-down house, a maze of horrors… Things were going very well until coronavirus came along.
[ Ivan ]I ran out of money, out of funds. All financial safeguards were depleted
[ Ivan ]With all that was happening, I wasn't as physically active,
[ Ivan ]I exercised less, stopped jogging. And on September 13, I got sick
[ VO ]Ivan went into hospital with 32% lung damage. After seeing doctors
at work in the ‘red zone’, he decided to go back to practicing medicine.
[ Ivan ]When I was in hospital, lying in bed, I began feeling better in a week
[ Ivan ]I had a laptop and I opened a website with online medical courses
[ Ivan ]I took a class on treating the coronavirus infection
[ Ivan ]After discharge, a week at home
[ Ivan ]Then I came to the hospital and was hired right away
[ Lyudmila ]It's hard, working for 12 hours in PPE. I tried that suit on - it was just impossible
[ LYUDMILA, IVAN'S WIFE ] I had a panic attack after an hour. It felt as though I was trapped
[ Ivan ]For example, yesterday, a relative called: 'How is the patient?'
[ Ivan ]I started explaining the situation to him, then a girl grabbed the phone from him:
'Now tell me the same.' I said: 'Sorry, ask the person I just spoke to'
'No, tell me again or I'll file a complaint'
[ Ivan ]People don't get that doctors are so busy and mustn't be distracted
[ Ivan ]There's no spare time, at all
[ Ivan ]You cut short your rest and lunch breaks
[ Ivan ]I come in early to get more work done, and stay late as there's so much to do
[ Evgeny ]How many square meters? 150?
[ Voice ]No, more
[ VO ]They used to kill cockroaches, rats, and bedbugs. Now it’s coronavirus.
[ VO ]The company Evgeny joined adapted quickly and never
had to let anyone go – in fact they took on new staff.
[ Evgeny ]I had to learn it all from scratch: treating for rats, cockroaches, COVID
[ EVGENY MARFIN, DISINFECTANT ] I never knew
there was such a job: going to places to exterminate stuff
[ Nikolai ]Disinfection technicians are all the rage now
[ NIKOLAY DUBININ, QUALITY DIRECTOR OF THE DISINFECTION COMPANY ] It’s finally
become a respectable profession. It's just as important as doctors' work.
[ Nikolai ]We're often compared to the Ghostbusters. People try to take a selfie or a picture with us.
[ Nikolai ]Nearly everyone orders COVID treatment these days. Any office, any store needs it If a place has many female employees,
e.g., a cosmetician, they ask us to treat the premises every 2 or 3 days
[ Evgeny ]I leave at 6:30 or 7am, I get home at 10 or 11pm Almost every day's like this
[ Evgeny ]Comparing my shift supervisor salary with
this job: I earn more now, but not by much
[ Evgeny ]Can't say COVID boosted my career, but who knows what's next?
[ Yoshinori ]So, we start reciting sutras
ECHIZEN, JAPAN
[ Hideo ]I was raised in a children's shelter as a little kid,
because my parents saw me as a burden
[ Hideo ]And it's true, they had to pay for everything, and it was very hard for them
[ Hideo ]I feel very sorry for them
[ Hideo ]But some days I'd go home, even when very little,
and they treated me so well - I have very good memories
[ Hideo ]It sure brings memories. Beautifully done
[ Hideo ]Dad, Mum! Great!
[ Hideo ]When the coronavirus epidemic is over,
and we don't have to wear masks anymore, I'll be able to go there
[ Yoshinori ]I filed a patent application for a grave maintenance database,
and was granted the right to use this trademark
[ Yoshinori ]If a person can't travel to their hometown, I visit the grave and pray in their place
[ Yoshinori ]They see it from their home,
and are grateful to their ancestors for having been born human
[ Yoshinori ]I'd like to see this tradition passed on to future generations
[ Yoshinori ]That's why I do it
How much has life changed?
I get up much earlier, I get home much later Way less family time
I think the pandemic will last all 2021
It's up to people: if they follow doctors' guidelines
The longer the pandemic, the more work for us
[ Ivan ]I see you've turned all rosy now.
[ Ivan ]Last week, I discharged 6 patients assigned
to me. When you see your patient getting out of bed, walking,
breathing without an oxygen mask, you know you did a good job. As
we get severe cases. Some people just hold the mask and can't breathe without it.
[ Ivan ]Dear patients, good news! Radik Ravilyevich
recovered from the coronavirus. Let's all congratulate him!
WRITTEN BY LIDIA VASILEVSKAYA DIRECTED BY PAVEL
BAYDIKOV CAMERAMEN PYOTR MAMOCHKIN STANISLAV
GURYANOV PRODUCER MARIANNA DRAVNEL VIDEO
EDITOR PAVEL BAYDIKOV MUSIC BY KSENIA PRASOLOVA SOUND
ENGINEER ALEKSANDR OSPANOV TRANSLATOR ALEKSANDR
PETROV NARRATOR DAVID
A. WATSON EDITOR ELENA
AMBARTSUMYAN DEPUTY
HEAD OF RTDOC CHANNEL GALINA
ARKHIPOVA HEAD OF RTDOC
CHANNEL EKATERINA YAKOVLEVA