Miniature "Sroom"
In Hanoi, on hot sunny days, cheap boarding houses, which are an option to save costs, have now become a nightmare for workers and freelancers. Living with 3 friends in a dilapidated room without windows with a rent of about 2.1 - 2.2 million VND/month (including electricity and water), Mr. Vu Anh Tuan (from Phu Tho province), shared: "The room lacks air, so it is very stuffy, even if the fan is turned on continuously, it cannot dispel the scorching heat. However, the room price is cheap, suitable for income, so we have to endure it.
According to Mr. Tuan, although it is only the beginning of summer, not yet the peak sunshine time of the year, electricity bills have increased by about 200,000 VND/month. For freelancers like him, each additional expense is a burden to make a living because they still have to take care of their wives and children in their hometown.
Exhausted all day by the scorching sun to make a living, Mr. Doan Quoc Huy (from Ninh Binh) was already exhausted from the heat blowing from the road surface, and when he returned to his rented room, he continued to face a stuffy, suffocating space no less than outside.
Many times when I come home tired from work, I just want to lie down and sleep, but the air in the room is too hot, making me always restless and sweaty. Even though the room has air conditioning, I don't dare to turn it on comfortably, at most 3 - 4 hours and then turn it off. Because the longer I turn it on, the higher the electricity bill" - Mr. Huy complained.
In Can Tho, these days, hot weather is also starting to surround workers' boarding houses. In a room of about 10m2, with a rent of less than 1 million VND, Ms. Lam Kim Nhung (worker of Tra Noc Industrial Park) is also "struggling" with the scorching heat.
Her worry is clearly shown on the electricity and water bills: "Last month, the 3 mothers and children spent about 300,000 VND, nearly doubled. This month it will probably increase. But what I am most worried about is that my young child is anorexic and easily allergic to the heat.
Struggling to manage
The harsh hot weather and pressure from increased electricity and water bills have forced workers to find ways to manage and change their living habits to adapt to the circumstances.
For Mr. Doan Quoc Huy, the optimal solution is to choose a temporary "migration" to avoid the heat. In the evening, instead of confining himself in four suffocating walls, he goes to the lake or park near his house to find some fresh air. "You have to take advantage of going out to cool off, wait until late at night when the air cools down before daring to go back to your room to rest, that's enough strength to continue working the next morning" - Mr. Huy confided.
To save costs to the maximum, Mr. Huy also applies the trick of only turning on the air conditioner for a short time, combined with a fan to make the cold spread faster without causing too much electricity consumption.
Meanwhile, Ms. Lam Kim Nhung chose to adjust from within to protect the health of the whole family without being too dependent on electricity and water. The female worker believes that using a lot of electricity and water is not a sustainable solution because it will cause a small income deficit. Instead, she prioritizes dressing her children in thin, cool clothes, and at the same time, increases green vegetables, fruits and drinks plenty of water in daily meals.
These are all temporary responses, I just hope the weather will soon calm down so that the rented rooms are less hot, reducing the burden of costs on the shoulders of workers and laborers" - the female worker expressed.
