“When Covid-19 hit, the number of tourists dropped to a very low level, just like a trickle. We are struggling to make a living. How do we feed the horses?”, Ms. Begum talk to AFP . During last year’s blockade, 41 horses, including Begum’s eight, died, she added. Dozens of horses in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, starve to death because their owners can’t afford to feed them. Photo: AFP. At Cox’s Bazar, people often keep horses to rent to tourists when they go out on the beach. The owners of the horses say they are struggling to have enough money to buy hay for their cattle. Some owners have freed their horses, in the hope that they can make a living on their own. Not to mention raising cattle, horse owners here say they also struggle to feed their families. Many people, including Ms. Begum, have to borrow money from small lending companies to make ends meet. “Every week, employees of the loan company come to my house to collect installment loans. But, if tourists don’t come to Cox’s Bazar, I don’t have the money to pay,” Begum said, adding that she borrowed about $1,200. Dozens of horse riders, often hired by horse owners to teach tourists how to ride, have turned to cart drivers or masons. Like many other countries, Bangladesh is struggling with a new wave of Covid-19. The health system is bearing the brunt, and lockdowns have been imposed across the country.

These days, the dormitories shack at the foot of Long Bien Bridge, Hanoi, poor workers always have to bend under the heat of 40 degrees Celsius. Towards noon, the sun shines on the roofs that are enclosed around four walls made of corrugated iron and cement roofing sheets. Stepping into the room, you can feel the suffocating heat, the heat emanating from the hot corrugated iron sheets. The roof and walls of the inn are mainly made of corrugated iron and thin plywood panels. There are makeshift houses that don’t even look like a house, just built with extra wood panels, tarps and rags, etc. to cover the sun and rain. As the heat engulfed the houses like a corrugated iron furnace at the foot of Long Bien Bridge, Ms. Thu could not take a nap, so she only took advantage of her time to collect beans and clean the house to ease her pain. Sitting at the door, Mrs. Loan (57 years old, a native of Ninh Binh) had to pour water in front of the room to calm the surging heat. “The fan blows out hot air, not cool, so I have to take advantage of the mornings and afternoons to sleep, when the sun is out, I push the cart to sell goods to earn some money. I don’t have any money at home, I sell my strength to get money, so whenever the weather is cool, I push the cart to sell goods, “said Loan. Some rooms are roofed with fibro cement tiles instead of corrugated iron sheets. This place has been home to hundreds of poor laborers for many years. They are people from many different places. However, because the life in the countryside was flooded, they went to Hanoi to spread all kinds of jobs from carrying goods to rent, pushing carts, selling sticky rice, tea, etc. Because they did not have much money to rent, the poor laborers flocked to the area. inns at the foot of Long Bien bridge live day by day. Taking advantage of the time to go out in front of the alley to catch a cool afternoon because he couldn’t sleep, Mr. Thanh (40 years old, from Thanh Hoa) shared: “I have been living in Long Bien market with the job of loading and unloading fruit for about 3 years. This area has about 30 inns built around 4 meters high.” Most of the workers here work at night, some people are loading goods, others are selling goods and going to the market. When it is hot, many people have to put the folding bed under the tree to avoid the heat. The people here have been struggling to make a living every day, now they have become more and more struggling with the scorching heat and burning flesh. “No one wants to live here, but thinking about the family’s food and clothing, they still try to make a living in a foreign land. This weather can make you sleepy, even if you are tired, you can’t sleep because lying on the bed is like lying on a pile of blankets, sometimes you don’t dare to cook because the room is too hot. The toilet is also in the room, they gather 3 corrugated iron sheets to form a toilet in the corner of the room, “said Thao. The fibro-cement roof retains heat for a long time, making the house always stuffy like a bagua oven Like Mr. Thanh and Mr. Thuan, Mr. Kien (55 years old, from Hai Duong), said that he has been working in Hanoi for 6 years. Every hot season comes, the motel room is no longer a resting place but an obsession to fear of him and everyone here. Can’t sleep because it’s hot like a bagua. “Coming home from work tired and want to rest but can’t sleep because of the heat, the surrounding is made of corrugated iron and thin wood, so it absorbs high heat. The roof is also made of fibro cement tiles, so at noon the heat is like a large oven, nothing more, nothing less. We stay here sometimes it’s too hot and we go to the tree to live or go out under the bushes to sleep comfortably, “said Kien. The shacks are less than 3m high, close together. Even though we have worked all night, many people cannot sleep in hot inns: “Now we only take advantage of sleeping in the morning before coming home from work to take advantage of sleep and then go to a few trees in the afternoon to avoid the heat until the afternoon. Then go back to sleep for a while and then go to work. This house wants to pour water on the roof to reduce the heat, because the water will leak into the house, even if it is poured water, it will only dry for a moment, but it will not work,” Dung added. Under the hot summer sun, those poor neighbors are still struggling every day because of their livelihood. Every afternoon, no one invites anyone, everyone goes to the tree stumps, room doors, shady places to sit and talk about their family’s life and circumstances. In the stressful situation of the epidemic, the people here also pay attention to the distance, but due to the narrow living space, it is inconvenient enough. No one dares to think about air conditioning and air conditioning because they do it to rent an inn and take care of their monthly living expenses. They still wish that when it rains, they will have a good night’s sleep. As for summer days, this place is as hot as a bagua oven, and cold days are bone-chilling. According to the forecast, the hot weather will continue to last and stay at a high temperature. The life of the poor laborers, who were already hard, now becomes even more difficult when they have to fight the hot sun in makeshift motel rooms. The minimalist need to sleep has now suddenly become a great desire of many people.