Lives huddled together in the cold night in Vinh city

Cong Kien - Duc Anh• January 7, 2021 06:33

(Baonghean.vn) - Late at night, the cold gets more and more intense, the streets become less and less deserted and fall asleep. Here and there on the roadside, under the bridge or on the eaves of high-rise buildings in Vinh city, there are still people quietly going about their daily work and looking for shelter in the cold night.

The cold air continues to flow in, at night the pace of life in Vinh seems to slow down, no one wants to leave the house unless it is necessary. Those who come home late rush to return to their warm home, to stay in a wind-proof room with a warm blanket. It is not yet 10 pm but the streets are deserted, only the cleaners are still busy with their work. Photo: Duc Anh

On Hong Bang Street, Ms. Nguyen Thi T. is still busy collecting every piece of scattered trash and patiently pushing the garbage cart through the collection points of each residential area. In the night fog and the shade of the trees along the road, Ms. T. looks like a shadow. She shared: “My work starts from 5 p.m. every day until 2 a.m. the next morning. Other seasons are easier, but the hardest is winter, because the working time is when the temperature is at its lowest during the day. Every day, I hope to finish work early so I can go home and bury myself in my blanket, hug my child and go to sleep…”. Photo: Duc Anh

After working for a while, Ms. T. had to rest to regain her strength, sitting huddled, rubbing her cold hands... Photo: Duc Anh

Dinh Cong Trang Street, a young girl is “struggling” with a pile of dishes lying around. The girl said that her home is in a mountainous district, and she came to Vinh to find work to help her parents raise her. The job of serving at a night restaurant starts from dusk until the end of the customers, sometimes until 1 a.m., including preparing, serving and washing dishes. Photo: Duc Anh

On cold nights, washing dishes is a very hard job. It feels like when you touch water, the cold seeps into your bones, your hands are as hard as stone. There are days when you have to sit washing dishes for hours, your body is shaking but you have to try to finish the job. Photo: Duc Anh

On the sidewalk of Le Loi street, taxi drivers are still waiting for a few more customers... Photo: Duc Anh

At the garbage collection point on Quang Trung Street, a middle-aged woman bent down to search for cardboard and plastic bottles and put them into a sack. She looked patient and quiet in the middle of a winter night, despite the cold that was covering her. Photo: Duc Anh

Also on Quang Trung Street, a woman was sitting selling children’s toys. The street was deserted but she still sat there hoping someone would stop by to sell a few more things. But the street was getting more and more deserted, she still sat motionless… Photo: Duc Anh

At the foot of the high-rise buildings on Le Loi Street, in front of the porch hung an old tarpaulin, from inside came the sound of an old man coughing. Seeing someone coming to visit, the old man coughed and cried: "I'm almost 80 years old, I used to have a happy family but fate has pushed me into a situation of no home, no relatives, for decades I have had to cling to the sidewalk to live, collecting scrap metal during the day, coming here at night to stay. The last few nights have been so cold, my pneumonia has relapsed, I've been coughing constantly and I can't sleep..." Photo: Duc Anh

At Cua Tien Bridge, on Pham Hong Thai Street, an old woman also in her late 80s is sitting by the roadside, asking for compassion from passersby. During the day, the old woman goes everywhere collecting scrap metal, and at night she sits here, hoping for sympathy. Late at night, she goes under the bridge to rest... Photo: Duc Anh

To ward off the cold, people who make a living at night and the homeless often look for firewood and collect scraps to make a fire to warm themselves up, hoping to ward off the winter cold. Photo: Duc Anh