Struggling to make a living in harsh weather

Having been a bricklayer for nearly 5 years, Mr. Nguyen Van Hau (residing in Phu My town, Phu Tan district) has become accustomed to working in the sun and rain to make a living. The "sunny morning, rainy afternoon" weather in recent days has made his already difficult work even more difficult and disruptive, affecting the construction progress. This hard work brings him an income of 200,000 - 300,000 VND/day. "It's better to have sunny weather or rainy weather, but sometimes sunny and sometimes rainy like this, we can't work, affecting the construction progress, and our income is also affected. I hope it will be sunny for a few days so we can finish the rough work on the outside, because sometimes sunny and sometimes rainy, no one is as hard as bricklayers like us" - Mr. Hau expressed.

Due to her poor family background, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Hoa's son and his wife (living in My Xuyen ward, Long Xuyen city) work as factory workers in Dong Nai province, while she sells lottery tickets to cover daily living expenses and take care of her granddaughter in 6th grade. Every day, she walks around the inner streets of Long Xuyen city to sell lottery tickets. She sells from 6am to 8pm, alternating between times when she comes home to cook lunch and dinner for her granddaughter. On a good day, she sells 200 tickets, earning 200,000 VND. Recently, the weather has been harsh, so she has not been able to go out much, and partly because she is afraid of unsold tickets, she has only sold 100 - 150 tickets/day. “The weather is sometimes sunny, sometimes rainy, and I have a stroke and cannot walk, so I don’t dare to sell too many. The profit from each ticket is only 1,000 VND, and if I let them sit there, I won’t have any money to spend. I will wait a few days until the weather is better, then I will sell more tickets. My nephew has finished his exams and is on summer vacation, so he can also sell lottery tickets with me to earn money to buy books for the next school year…” - Mrs. Hoa confided. After 8am, the sunlight was shining on the figure of the old lady over 60 years old who had difficulty walking due to the after-effects of the stroke...

Under the scorching heat, many technology motorbike taxi drivers and shippers are still working hard to make a living. Even though their shirts are soaked with sweat, they still run back and forth to "earn a living". Occasionally, some people have to find shade under trees or buildings to take shelter from the sun, drink water to cool down... To adapt to the weather, technology drivers use many measures, protective gear to shield, protect against the sun, and protect their health. At noon, they find tree canopies, under bridges or high-rise buildings as places to eat, rest and recover their health.

At nearly 11 am, Mr. Tran Thanh Hai (residing in My Hoa ward, Long Xuyen city), a driver for a delivery app, stopped his car to avoid the sun under the shade of a tree near Hoang Dieu bridge. Taking off his jacket to cool down, he continuously drank water and washed his face to cool down his body. Although tired, he still kept looking at his phone to see if he had any more trips... "This job requires accepting the harshness of the weather, whether sunny or rainy. The more severe the weather, the more people are afraid to go out, so orders for delivery via the app increase more than before. Although it is hard, I try to work hard to earn more income and support my family. From morning until now, I have only been able to run 4 trips around the area, so I am trying to earn 2-3 more trips before I dare to take a lunch break" - Mr. Hai shared.

Le Dinh Cuong (living in My Xuyen ward, Long Xuyen city) has been a delivery shipper for nearly 4 years and said that the hot weather makes his job much harder and more difficult. Besides equipping himself with sunglasses, masks, gloves... and a big water bottle is indispensable for shippers like Cuong. These days, he often goes to the warehouse to prepare goods the night before and tries to deliver them the next morning to "avoid the sun". "I have to try to deliver as many orders as possible in the morning, otherwise it will be very tiring when the sun is hot at noon. Not to mention the times when it suddenly rains heavily while it is sunny, affecting the delivery to customers" - Cuong said.

LE HOANG

Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/vat-va-muu-sinh-duoi-thoi-tiet-khac-nghiep-a421152.html