The rented room is like an oven, the poor worker turns on 2 fans... sitting and breathing

The prolonged heat in the middle of the dry season has made poor workers in shabby dormitories in Ho Chi Minh City even more miserable. In addition to electricity bills doubling, many workers are worried about their health if the heat continues.

Heat exposes hardships

At 12 noon, Mrs. Nguyen Thi My (58 years old) sat on the floor, busily preparing lunch. Having suffered a stroke that left half of her body paralyzed, she can now only work with one hand.

The low corrugated iron roof and the heat from the ceiling of the rented room made Mrs. My dizzy. Every now and then she would quickly put down the bundle of vegetables to use her hands to massage her temples.

In the hot rented room, Mrs. My and her husband always had to turn on the fan to blow water into the basin to cool the air a bit (Photo: Nguyen Vy).

"It's so hot, I feel dizzy, have difficulty breathing, and can't do anything. During the last heat wave, I was dizzy and unsteady when I left my rented room, so I was hit by a motorbike and fell onto the street. Since then, I've had back pain and difficulty walking, so I just stay in my room and endure the heat," said Ms. My.

Mrs. My and her husband are one of the households renting a house at the foot of Xom Cui bridge (Binh Chanh district, Ho Chi Minh City). They sell lottery tickets to earn money to support their lives.

Mr. Nguyen Van Ly (71 years old, Mrs. My’s husband) has heart disease and eye cancer. Every time the hot season comes, Mr. Ly’s cancerous eye discharges fluid, causing pain.

After Mrs. My’s fall, for the past month, only Mr. Ly has gone out to work to earn money to feed two mouths. Without a worker in the family, Mr. Ly has had to rely on the help of neighbors to have enough money to get by.

Mrs. My burst into tears when talking about her situation (Photo: Nguyen Vy).

"I'm old, so in hot weather like this, my blood pressure increases easily. It's hot inside the room, and it's even easier to faint outside. Sometimes my wife and I both get colds, and we lie in a corner of the room, unable to take care of each other," Mr. Ly sighed.

Mr. Ly and his wife's rented room is less than 10 square meters wide, with a rickety bed in the corner. Because it was so hot, the couple had to leave the bed and lie on the tiled floor to cool down, despite their aching backs.

Ms. Kieu (name changed upon request) moved from Nha Trang City to Ho Chi Minh City to start a business. Despite knowing the hot weather every dry season, poor workers like her family had no choice but to rent cheap accommodations. Ms. Kieu opened a drink stall outside her rented room to earn extra money while her husband was unemployed.

"My child is 3 years old but still hasn't gone to school because his parents don't have enough money. The hot rented room makes him always uncomfortable, screaming and irritable," said Ms. Kieu.

Learn to endure

Not far away, Ms. Bui Thi Thanh Thuy (45 years old) and her 3 children were also huddled in a stuffy rented room. After less than 10 minutes in the room, Ms. Thuy quickly went outside to get some air because she could not stand the heat.

Her child has Down syndrome and heart disease. Seeing her child suffer from the heat, Ms. Thuy cried many nights, helpless (Photo: Nguyen Vy).

"My youngest daughter has heart disease and Down syndrome. Last year I sent her to the nuns at the church to help take care of her. But now the nuns no longer accept her, so I have to take her home. In the hot room, sometimes she gets upset, screams, and cries, making me very miserable, not knowing what to do," Ms. Thuy choked.

Ms. Thuy said she had to borrow money to buy goods and sell groceries, earning only a few tens of thousands of dong each day. She had to wake up at 2am to collect scrap metal to earn extra money to raise her children.

"If I'm lucky, I'll get some rice and meat from a benefactor or a neighbor who sympathizes with me, but otherwise I'll just have to endure it. I also dream of having a house to make the dry season less hot and the rainy season less flooded, but it seems so far away," Thuy confided.

Poor workers in the boarding house always dream of having their own house to escape the current miserable situation (Photo: Nguyen Vy).

During the hot season, mother and child have a harder time. A few days ago, some benefactors came to help, giving her fabric to cover the ceiling to reduce the heat.

According to Ms. Thuy, her electricity bill for her rented room is usually around 200,000-300,000 VND/month, and doubles during the hot season. The cost weighs even more heavily on the shoulders of a poor mother.

At night, the mother and her four children were crowded together in the cramped rented room. Ms. Thuy had to turn on two fans at the same time so the children could sleep a little.

"We are so poor, we have to learn to endure. In the morning, I open the door all day to keep it cool, and I put a piece of plywood in front of the door to keep my child from running out.

"At night, I'm afraid of thieves, so I have to lock the door, even though the air is stuffy and extremely hot. A comfortable, cool nap is a rare thing for us," Thuy said sadly.

The boarding house is covered with corrugated iron roofs and is cramped within four cement walls (Photo: Nguyen Vy).

Pointing to the row of boarding houses, the woman smiled bitterly: "Most of the people living here are poor workers. Those who have lived here for decades are used to the hot weather in the dry season. Sometimes when the weather is hot and the electricity bill increases, we have to ask the landlord to delay the rent because we cannot afford to pay."

The boarding house is full of shabby corrugated iron roofs, each room is cramped within four cement walls. The way to keep the poor from getting too hot is to constantly splash water on the corrugated iron roof to keep it cool.

Original link: https://dantri.com.vn/an-sinh/phong-tro-nhu-lo-thieu-lao-dong-ngheo-bat-2-quat-ngoi-tho-20240305141712173.htm

According to Dan Tri

Source: https://tienphong.vn/tphcm-phong-tro-nhu-lo-thieu-lao-dong-ngheo-bat-2-quat-ngoi-tho-post1617870.tpo