VietNamNet Bridge – "Earning a lot of money is always the goal of any farmer who migrates from rural areas to the cities," said La Trong Thuy, a migrant labourer from northern Nam Dinh Province.

A migrant motorbike taxi driver picks up clients at Ha Noi's Southern Station. Many people leave their hometowns to earn a living in urban areas despite facing many difficulties. (Photo: VNS)

Discrimination and a lack of awareness seemed to be a common complaint of all migrant labourers, Thuy said.

"I have been working in Ha Noi for 10 years. My first job was xich lo driver, but when the city became more crowded and did not have much space for three-wheeled vehicles, I managed to buy a motorbike to work as a xe om (motorbike taxi) driver," Thuy said.

"We face many difficulties and risks yet we do not know how to protect ourselves.

"To save money, I have to share a 10sq m room with two other people, which makes us more susceptible to diseases. Sometimes, we have to compete against each other to pick up passengers."

Trinh Thi Mai Ngan said her husband also was a xe om driver. Working at night was not safe with no one to protect him, especially when he met bad people who refused to pay him or tried to rob him.

Ngan, who is a street vendor, said the job she was doing was stressful because it was considered illegal and the cause of public disorder.

Dang Van Tuong, deputy secretary of the city's Ba Dinh District, said many people thought migrants brought social insecurity, which was the origin of the discrimination.

Ba Dinh District is a pioneer in the process of finding ways to help stabilise the lives of migrants with a project to improve the capacity and living standards of migrants. The project was launched by the Light Institute for Development and Community Health in April last year.

As part of the project, the district set up an information centre based at Phuc Xa Ward to help migrants find jobs, provide them with health services and improve their knowledge of laws.

Phuc XaWard was considered a hot spot, which carried many risks of food safety, environment hygiene and diseases, as it had many markets and stations, deputy chairwoman of the ward Nguyen Thi Lan Huong said.

"Therefore, we find it necessary to raise the awareness of migrants and local residents so that migrants might avoid breaking the law."

So far, no migrant in the locality had committed violations, she added.

A representative from the Humanity Vocational Centre said urban residents had a lot to thank migrant labourers for because without them many families in the city would have difficulties.

In the hustle and bustle of city life, many people did not have enough time to take care of their children and do housework. In those cases, migrants became efficient assistants, he said.

However, the migrant community must be paid more attention and given more support, he said.

Ngan said urban life was difficult but she would keep working in the city as long as she could give her family in her home town a better life.

Ngan said she hoped the State would take measures to protect migrant labourers and ensure they were treated equally.

Project linking migrants

As part of the project to improve migrants' capacity and quality of life, the New Day Migrant Co-operative was launched yesterday.

Bui Thi Hong Van, programme manager of the Light Institute, said the co-op aimed to give migrants stable jobs by organising four groups: motorbike taxis, food transportation, home repairs and domestic help.

"The group is owned and managed by the migrants themselves," Van said.

Migrants were encouraged to participate in the project, which also offered courses in business, law and work skills, in the hope that they would share experiences, Van said.

The first web site for migrants www.diendandicu.org.vn has also been set up.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News