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Sri Lanka is currently plagued by extreme economic woes. Date: August 25, 2022. Photo: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Extreme poverty and difficult living conditions of Sri Lanka have haunted Christopher de Alois, a man in his 50s who does not remember the last time he had three meals in a day.
Living in a dark, primitive alley in an impoverished neighbourhood of Sri Lanka's capital city of Colombo, Alois told Rudaw’s Payam Sarbast on Thursday that in a matter of a year he lost 24 kilograms of weight due to a lack of food.
Now 48 kilograms, the 54-year-old Sri Lankan says they do not have a penny at their house, barely getting a meal a day.
"Food is expensive, our lives are very expensive, everything is expensive, parliamentarians, presidents are all responsible for the tragedy we are living in," Alois said.
“I don't remember eating three meals in one day," he lamented.
Along with Alois, 200 other families live in the Colombo neighbourhood - all Muslims. They all share one bitter story; no food, no electricity, no fuel or gas to cook, so they burn nylon for fires.
Sri Lanka is currently plagued by extreme economic woes, the first of its kind ever since its independence from Britain in 1948.
Yahya Rizana is another resident of Colombo.
"Since the crisis happened, we have been eating only one meal, and some days we have nothing to eat. My children sleep hungry. I have not been able to send my youngest son to school due to poverty," she told Rudaw.
The crisis is largely caused by a lack of foreign currency and excessive foreign debts, which has meant that Colombo cannot afford to pay for imports of staple food and fuel.
The existing economic crisis is blamed on Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the former president of Sri Lanka who fled the country on July 13, 2022 following widespread protests in Colombo.
Protesters accused Rajapaksa of corruption and bankrupting the country. More than a month after his resignation, the people of Sri Lanka do not see a glimmer of hope for economic recovery.
According to the latest Central Bank figures and WFP findings, nearly six million Sri Lankans need food assistance, and nine out of every 10 Sri Lankan families have reduced their daily meals from three to one or two.
Eran Wickramaratne is a Sri Lankan parliamentarian. He told Rudaw that the new government has to take “radical steps” to overcome the crisis.
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