Sad stories about female workers who live in rented houses and are addicted to drugs

Neighborhood love

When the sun sets, it is also the time for workers in Tan Truong Industrial Park (Cam Giang) to get off work. They hurriedly stop by the roadside market to buy vegetables and fish to prepare for a simple dinner.

Following Ms. LTK, a female worker from Quan Ba ​​district (Ha Giang), to the boarding house right on the edge of Phu Xa village (Tan Truong commune), I saw that it was still bright outside, but when I got to the boarding house, Ms. K. had to turn on the lights. The row of nearly twenty boarding houses were close together, with patched, old cement roofing sheets blocking all light from outside. The boarding room was only 9 square meters, Ms. K. invited me in and then slammed the door shut. Feeling strange, I asked:

- Why don't you open the door for ventilation and save electricity?

Taking half a bunch of water spinach with roots still intact, Ms. K. picked it up and explained:

- I don't want anyone to pry into my private life. My belly is big so I'm afraid of people in the neighborhood gossiping.

Missing her hometown, Ms. K. has not dared to return for several months. She said Quan Ba ​​is very beautiful, with winding mountain passes, peaceful valleys and terraced fields stretching far and wide. Ms. K.'s house is right near the twin mountains of Quan Ba, a famous tourist destination in Ha Giang. Her hometown celebrates Thanh Minh festival in a big way, but she has not dared to return because she does not know how to explain it to her family and relatives. She is afraid that she will not be able to hide her 4-month pregnant belly, and the baby's father has already "gone crazy" and has not acknowledged it.

When she was nearly 4 months pregnant, Ms. K. was shocked to learn that her lover had long been married and had children. He came to her simply to "relieve his sadness" when his wife went to work abroad and to look for a son to continue the family line. They lived together intimately as husband and wife, but when he learned that Ms. K. was pregnant with a daughter, he immediately moved and told her to abort the baby. "But he didn't know that the fetus was already big and it would be very dangerous to abort it. Because he already had 3 daughters, he didn't want me to have another daughter. I was only 20 years old, had never been in love before, but I fell into the trap of a love-deceiving guy like that," Ms. K. said in tears.

Even though she went to the Don Juan's hometown, Ms. K. could not do anything because his family did not accept him having an affair and having a child with an ethnic minority.

Tears streamed down throughout the conversation, Ms. K's innocent face in her twenties was blurred, making me choke up.

Far from home, lonely, and craving for love, many female workers fall in love in haste, patch things up, or live together like Ms. K. Many accept being single mothers or abandoning their children, erasing their painful youthful love to start a new life.

Having the opportunity to visit industrial parks in Cam Giang, Nam Sach, Kim Thanh..., I learned that many workers live together in boarding houses. Being far from their families and lacking in love, they pair up to live together. The boarding house owners in Le Xa village, Cam Phuc commune (Cam Giang) always have stories about the ill-fated love affairs of female workers. Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa, the owner of the boarding house here, said that many young workers indulge in love affairs and live together. Many female workers are only the same age as her daughter, but lack knowledge about reproductive health and have become pregnant by "mistake". "I once took 2 girls under 20 years old from Nghe An and Son La to have abortions at the hospital. I felt sorry for them because they were young and didn't want their parents to suffer, so I took them to the hospital to solve the problem and take care of them like my own daughters," Ms. Hoa said.

Fall into vices

Hastily betting their youth on love, many female workers have had to suffer bitter consequences like the stories I have collected above. After short-lived, easily broken love affairs, many women have realized with shame that they are always at a disadvantage. Many female workers even no longer believe in love, indulge in debauchery, "take revenge on life" and from there mistakenly fall into drugs and prostitution.

The road through Quy Duong village, Tan Truong commune is considered by many to be a “happy” highway. This place used to have a number of prostitution and drug dens hidden in motels and hotels where the “prostitutes” included female workers.

Major Pham Thanh Tung, Deputy Head of the Anti-Social Evils Team, Criminal Police Department (Provincial Police) said that although Hai Duong is not a hot spot for prostitution and drugs, during the investigation and crackdown on crimes in this field, there are many female workers who are both drug addicts and prostitutes. Most of the female workers who fall into social evils are uneducated, lazy, playful, and easily tempted.

There are currently no specific statistics on the number of female workers addicted to drugs or involved in prostitution, but according to Major Pham Thanh Tung, the number of female workers falling into the spiral of social evils in Hai Duong is not small. For example, in 2023, a female worker of the Dao ethnic group PTH from Huoi Loong village, Mun Chung commune, Tuan Giao district (Dien Bien), while the company had little work and did not have to work overtime, listened to the enticement of a fellow villager to sell sex to a guest at a motel in Tan Truong commune and was arrested by the police.

Doc Lap residential area, Ai Quoc ward (Hai Duong city) has long been a city of workers because the number of workers staying in rented accommodation is almost equal to the original population of the area. This area is close to large textile and garment enterprises, so there are quite a lot of female workers staying in rented accommodation. According to Mr. Tran Viet Chien, the owner of the boarding house in the above residential area, the reason for the stumbles of female workers is that they are young, have little practical knowledge of society, spend most of their time working, and when they return home, they close the door and make friends with their phones. Many female workers are not alert and are easily lured into living together, buying and selling drugs and prostitution. "There is a girl from Thanh Mien district who comes here to work at Ever-Glory Garment Company Limited but does not want to go home but rents a room to live together with her boyfriend. When my wife discovered that she was acquainted with an older man who showed signs of addiction, my wife gently advised her to stay away, but she not only did not listen, but also became harsh, annoyed and moved to another place to live," Mr. Chien shared.

Care for female workers

The stories above do not represent the lives of female workers in Hai Duong. They are just the "low notes" in the daily lives of thousands of female workers working here. When female workers fall into a loose life, they also lose their future.

According to the review of the Hai Duong Province Industrial Park Management Board, enterprises in the province's industrial parks are creating regular jobs for more than 100,000 workers, of which female workers account for more than 60%, concentrated in textile, footwear, electronics, etc. Female workers working in industrial parks are mostly between the ages of 18-30. Many female workers come from other provinces, especially the northern mountainous provinces.

With such a large number of female workers, specific policies to help them stick with their jobs and stay away from social evils are essential. Models of caring for female workers such as: "Women's group in boarding houses" of the Women's Union, "Friendly corner" of Hai Duong Provincial Youth Union or the Workers' Club, laborers with reproductive health implemented by the Vietnam Family Planning Association are fading and need to be awakened soon and operate effectively again...

Caring for female workers is not only the responsibility of the trade union but also of the enterprise. Some models such as “Your Health”, “Breastfeeding room for female workers” need to be replicated. Not only ensuring salary, bonus and welfare regimes, workers, especially female workers, need to have a favorable working environment, suitable for their gender and occupational characteristics.

The Vietnam General Confederation of Labor has chosen Tan Truong Industrial Park to build trade union facilities. There will be many places for recreation and entertainment to improve the spiritual life of workers. These projects are expected to start construction in the third quarter of this year. This is also good news for Hai Duong workers in general and female workers in particular. When their spiritual life is improved, workers will stay away from social evils.

Hai Duong is making efforts to implement social housing projects for low-income people, in which female workers who have to stay in dilapidated, stuffy houses every day will also benefit from this program. The province aims to complete 340 social housing units this year, 1,650 units in 2025, 2,000 units in 2026, 2,190 units in 2027 and 3,000 units per year from 2028 to 2030.