Sri Lankans migrating to greener pastures

This was not the first time this took place, 23 Sri Lankans claiming to be members of a national handball team vanished without a trace in Germany

The commonwealth games have come to an end with several members of the Sri Lankan team gone missing which had made a mockery of the Sri Lanka points table as Gold - 0, Silver -1, Bronze-3, Missing-10, Found-2, bringing much embarrassment to the country.   

This was not the first time this took place, 23 Sri Lankans claiming to be members of a national handball team vanished without a trace in Germany, the impact of this incident brought much disrepute to the Country that Dietmer Doering, the German sports exchange programme organiser who invited the team said to the BBC ‘I am not planning to invite any more teams from Sri Lanka [BBC, 15th September 2004]. The Italian-Sri Lankan film ‘Machan’ was based on this incident.   

It is not only sportsmen but Sri Lankans from diverse walks of life have stooped to this act that has put the trustworthiness of Sri Lankan citizens in jeopardy causing a detrimental effect on the country, hence it will be thoughtful to see a way of retaining our citizens and adding value to those who have already left our shores.   

It is not only sportsmen but Sri Lankans from diverse walks of life have stooped to this act that has put the trustworthiness of Sri Lankan citizens in jeopardy causing a detrimental effect on the country, hence it will be thoughtful to see a way of retaining our citizens and adding value to those who have already left our shores

A Sensitive Subject   
Migration has been a very sensitive subject and some artistes who decided to depict this theme in their work had often received a hostile reception, one such incident took place in 1975 when Henry Jayasena performed his stage play ‘Sarana siyoth se puthuni hamba yana’ (Translation: ‘Son follows the migrant birds’) at the open-air theatre in Peradeniya University, he was critical about the irresponsibility of the youth and the brain drain that was happening in the Country. The story was about a boy who migrates abroad after studies, leaving his aged parents behind.   
During the performance he was mercilessly hooted by the viewers and according to some eyewitnesses Henry Jayasena got onto the middle of the stage to have a discussion with the audience, but to no avail. This incident had such a negative impact on him that in a weekly column he wrote before his death he mentions that he was ‘shattered’ by this incident, and never wrote any original play after that [Henry Jayasena’s Column, Daily News, 20th June 2007].   

There are also people who would not want to hear or believe anything negative about certain countries, despite knowing the fact that every Country has its own positive and negative traits.   

To recall a personal experience when I visited UK to read for the final year of my degree, I fell seriously ill and visited 2 hospitals in the UK in search of medication, but I was not given a proper diagnosis nor any medication, when my condition worsened I had no option but to abandon my studies and come back to Sri Lanka, I was so ill that I boarded the airplane in a wheelchair.   

After returning I got the proper diagnosis and treatment from a hospital in Sri Lanka. this incident gave me the opportunity to witness the efficiency of treatment between Sri Lankan and UK hospitals.   

While a handful of people who have had a similar experience agreed with me a great majority of them shunned and rejected what I said about UK hospitals as many of them were parents who would not want to hear anything negative about UK as some of them have children studying there while the others were planning to send their children for studies.   

Retaining Citizens   
Rajiv Talreja, a business coach was seen explaining to one of his workshop participants, on the challenge of retaining employees and this video viral on social media. He mentions about three revolutions that took place in the business world. The first is the industrial revolution where people worked for survival, which was followed by the technology revolution where people worked to increase their standard of living which is now followed by the Social Revolution where people look for quality of life, as survival and standard of living was never a problem to this generation, if they don’t get the quality of life they expect in their workplace, they would definitely move elsewhere. [Youtube.com: How to retain employees – Rajiv Talreja]   

The same would apply to the challenge of retaining citizens in a country as the present Sri Lankans are no longer looking for survival or the standard of living. Sri Lankans of the present generation seeks for quality of life, any Sri Lankan who has got into a bus in Tokyo or London would clearly see the difference between them and the buses in Colombo, from courtesy of the drivers to the behaviour of the passengers, the differences are poles apart.   
So naturally people get attracted to them and will always go in search of the quality of life they yearn, they see people of their age queuing to get the latest iPhone in the west while they are queuing in a shed to get a few litres of fuel for travel, so when they realise that they are unable to get the quality of life they want they go in search of greener pastures.   

Advice from Mahatma Gandhi   
Sri Lankans who wish to migrate in search of greener pastures may have their reasons, so it would be wiser and responsible for them to do it ethically and legally without burdening the recipient Country and live in a manner that brings reputation to one’s country.   

When Mahatma Gandhi visited Sri Lanka in 1927 he gave a speech at the Reddiar Sangam in Colombo where he advised his fellow Indian citizens on how to add value to a country you live, to quote his words ‘Since you are earning your bread in this beautiful Island, I would ask you to live as sugar lives in milk. Even a cup of milk which is full up to the brim does not overflow when sugar is gently added to it, the sugar accommodating itself in the milk and enriches its taste’ [pg.121, With Gandhiji in Ceylon, Mahadev Desai].   

He further states ‘Take care that none of the vices we have in India are brought with you in this land in order to poison’ [ibid],   

Taking this advice Sri Lankans living abroad too can add value to the country they migrate and the reputation of Sri Lanka while leaving behind whatever negative traits they had back at home.   
It is our wish to see our citizens achieving what they cannot achieve in Sri Lanka.   
Wish them the best of luck.