World Tour - The plight of the Sri Lankans

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: World Tour with our reporter in Africa, Onize Ohikere.

AUDIO: [Streets, traffic]

ONIZE OHIKERE, REPORTER: Ranjan Weththasinghe is the program director of the Save the Children aid group in Sri Lanka’s capital of Colombo.

His team is responding to the country’s record economic crisis while battling the challenges on their own each day.

WETHTHASINGHE: Most of the time, for any purpose that we want to actually go to the office, or go for any personal need, we have to walk now. A lot of us also don't have personal vehicles. Even if we have personal vehicles, we can't get fuel. And some of us use public transport and public transport is very difficult to come by.

That means walking about three miles some days. His team has found ways to work remotely, but they still have to cope with power cuts.

Sri Lanka once had an expanding middle class. Now, schools are closed, and drivers stay on fuel queues for hours. Scarce foreign currency reserves have also led to a shortage of food, medicine, and other essential imports.

Save the Children surveyed more than 2,300 families in a report this month and found more than 85 percent lost income since the crisis began. More than a third are reducing their children’s food intake.

WETHTHASINGHE: So we also know when the things are going bad with their household income and an ability to meet the essential need, what's going to happen is that's going to increase levels of child labor, child marriage and other forms of violence and exploitation.

The government has said the pandemic affected tourism. But protesters blame years of economic mismanagement and bad policies. In 2021, for instance, the government tried to limit foreign currency shortages by banning chemical fertilizer imports, but it led to widespread crop failure and food shortages. Authorities scrapped the policy seven months later.

AUDIO: [Protesters chanting]

The frustration escalated last week as protesters took over the official residences of the president and prime minister. Inside the presidential palace, they swam in the pool, used the gym, and laid across the beds. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country and appointed the prime minister to serve as acting leader.

The acting president declared a state of emergency on Monday as protests continued. Parliament will elect a new leader on Wednesday.

Protesters like Nilu, a 26-year-old teacher, are ready for political change.

NILU: This is a very beautiful country. So, we want a president who can protect our country and the people, who can do better, that kind of person is what we need right now.

But a new political leadership would not bring immediate relief. Save the Children’s emergency intervention includes cash assistance and agricultural support.

Weththasinghe said the aid group has also created plans for multiple scenarios so it can continue to offer support, however the political situation turns out.

WETHTHASINGHE: The uncertainty is impacting everyone, because we all feel the tension. And we feel the frustration of the general public, and that's, that's what we see on the street, how they express it.

That’s this week’s World Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere in Abuja, Nigeria.

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