Columns

Several media reports last week focussed on Sachini Perera, holder of the national record in Pole Vaulting and known in sports circles as the “Vaulting Queen” being compelled to work as a housemaid in Dubai. The 24-year-old who has ambitions of making her mark on the international scene has been forced by circumstances to put her promising athletic career on hold and take up employment in Dubai as a House Maid.

She is one of the many thousands who have fallen victim to the economic crisis that has engulfed the country putting the already poverty stricken and marginalised sections of society into further strife.  

According to media reports Sachini moved to Dubai for employment in July last year in order to economically support her mother following a stroke that left the latter partially paralysed.

Her current employment in Dubai requires her to take care of a young child and do the housework during the day. After work she follows a weekly training schedule sent by her coach in Sri Lanka.

She is undefeated since 2018 and continues to have dreams of doing well on the world stage. Sachini is grateful to her current employers who give her time off to use the gym, pool facilities and take her to the beach and park to train every week. ‘They treat me very well ‘ she said.

Meanwhile the officials of the Sri Lankan Consulate in Dubai too have come to know of Sachini’s plight and are making strenuous efforts to find her a sports related job in order to facilitate her progress in her sporting career.

Alexi Gunasekera,
Sri Lanka’s Consul General in Dubai himself is spearheading these efforts and has met sports authorities in the Emirate to explore options so she could continue her training uninterrupted.

Sachini’s story is reflective of the extent of anguish and pain that the poor in the country have to go through. While her story receives some publicity due to her record in sports there are so many other cases, hidden from the public eye, who have had their educational careers stifled and have had to leave their loved ones behind and take up employment abroad.

Parliamentarian Athureliya Rathana Thera too highlighted Sachini’s case in Parliament last week as symbolic of the poverty that has been aggravated by the economic crisis.

The magnitude of the crisis faced by the country is brought home with telling effect by the results of a recent survey conducted by LIRNEasia, a regional policy research organization. According to this survey the number of Sri Lanka’s poor had increased by a colossal 4 million since 2019 and today stands at 7 million which amounts 31 percent of the population in 2023.

While the number of people searching for jobs in West Asia preceded the economic crisis brought about by the actions of the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government, the number of persons migrating looking for greener pastures has increased phenomenally in the last four years primarily due to the mismanagement of the economy.

According to figures maintained by the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment 311,000 people left for jobs abroad in  2022. The Health Sector too has been badly hit by the exodus of doctors. Over 700 doctors including some medical consultants have left Sri Lanka and migrated overseas last year according to Director General of Health Services (DGHS) Dr. Asela Gunawardena.

The total number of medical personnel and other skilled workers leaving the country continues to increase with the number migrating continuing unabated this year too. The number of doctors and medical personnel exiting the country is adversely impacting the country’s much renowned Health Sector but the government is unable to reverse the trend.

There is criticism in some quarters about those who are seeking to migrate on the grounds that they have been the beneficiaries of a free education system and owe a duty to the country to stay back at a time of crisis. However this argument does not hold water in a situation where the State is unable to ensure the minimum requirements for its citizens to live a reasonably comfortable life.

While the Government is preoccupied with dealing with macro economic issues, the poor and vulnerable continue to bear the brunt of the economic slowdown. Despite nutritionists having repeatedly drawn attention to the malnourishment that is affecting both children and adults consequent to shrinking real incomes the needs of the poor seem to get missed out.

A classic case in point is the cost of and limited availability of eggs. The government began importing eggs from India but still eggs are not easy to come by with most retail outlets and supermarkets running out of stocks in the early part of the day.

Prior to the short supply in recent months, eggs were one of the most common forms of nutrition available to the consumer.

Clearly there is a strong need for Government to formulate and implement a plan to ensure basic necessities at affordable prices to the people. The sooner this is done the better. Failing which, in addition to the other woes that the people face, Sri Lanka faces the prospect of becoming a malnourished and emaciated nation in the not too distant future.

(javidyusuf@gmail.com)