Energy Diary

Having a roof isn't enough

Douai, FranceBérengère, 35, married, both parents unemployed, four children, renter.

© Stéphanie Lacombe

© Stéphanie Lacombe

The boiler doesn’t work, so we stay under the covers all day. I put fabric rolls under the doors and tape on the windows to block the cold.

The hardest is when I get up at night and feel my baby frozen right to her feet. We reassure ourselves by saying that ‘we have a roof, even if it falls apart’. But I am tired…it rains, and I am drowned.