Despite the approaching monsoon season, many residents in Myanmar’s largest city are still feeling the heat and lack access to cooling systems due to power shortages caused by a limited supply and damage to the power grid from earthquakes.
Science teacher Phyo Htet sits in her room teaching online classes, dripping sweat despite the monsoon season approaching.
The oppressive heat just won’t go away due to the high humidity of Yangon’s rainy season.
“When it’s very hot and there is no electricity, we can’t sleep at all at night,” she said from her tiny apartment with no air-conditioning.
Another educator, Zora, has learned to live by the power supply schedule since January. When the electricity comes on from 1 am to 5 am, she stays awake until 3:30 am, charging power banks and filling water tanks.
Her sleep routine has become abnormal. Some nights she goes to sleep at 9 pm and gets up after midnight to start her energy-storing routine.
Without stable power, Nora, a professor teaching online at a foreign university, must rely on a hand fan as the only way to cool down, whether at night or during online classes.
These are some of the daily experiences of those living in the dense residential areas of Yangon – sweating with sticky skin and a feeling of great discomfort, despite the rains coming.
Electricity has become a luxury, and the heat has not yet receded.