Leaving in droves

Aldoris, the choon-paan karaya, had arrived down the lane and was engaged in a chat with the trio at the gate. Kussi Amma Sera had purchased a few ‘teabuns’ for breakfast and after leaving them on the kitchen table, joined the conversation. “Mage gamey, me davas wala kathawenney tharuna kattiya rassawal hoya ganna hadanawa kiyala meda peradiga, mokada godak denek ge rassawal nethi wena hinda lankawe (In my village, the talk these days is that young people are looking for jobs in the Middle East because many are losing jobs at home),” said Serapina.

“Mata ahila thiyenne tharuna kattiya egollange anagathaya gena kanassallata pathwi innawa kiyala mehe thiyena prashna nisa. Eka hinda egollo pita rata yanna balanawa kiyala (What I have heard is that young people are worried about their future with all the problems at home and want to go abroad),” noted Kussi Amma Sera.

“Mage sahodarayath pita rata yanna balan inne. Mama eyawa denuwath karala thiyenawa echchara lesi wedak neme kiyala, mokada sudusukam thiyenna oney hinda (My brother also wants to go abroad. I have told him that it’s not easy to get a foreign job as you need the proper qualifications),” added Aldoris.

At this point, Mabel Rasthiyadu questioned: “Tharuna kattiya godak pita rata giyoth, eka rate anagathayata balapanne nedda (If many young people are going abroad won’t it affect the country’s future)?”

There was no immediate response from the others. Listening to their conversation from the office room window with a mug of tea (my first for the day) on this Thursday morning, the topic was in fact what I was planning to write about this week. Earlier in the week to gauge public opinion, I posted the following query on Facebook: “Is it true that young people are leaving Sri Lanka in droves to escape social, economic and political unrest and also look for a better future abroad?”

There was a plethora of responses to this query. It raised all kinds of questions and clarifications, while the increasing number of passports issued by the Department of Immigration and Emigration implied that many people are trying to escape the uncertain economic and social conditions at home.

In fact, there are long queues outside the Passport Office. According to one report, a total of 288,645 persons applied and received passports in January to May 2022 compared to 382,506 passports that had been issued for the whole of 2021. A department spokesperson was quoted as saying that many were seeking overseas employment due to the economic crisis at home. At this rate, the number of new passports is likely to double this year from 2021 figures – which means an outflow of nearly half a million people.

The flight of this vital human resource is bad news for the country and according to one response from FB, those leaving include professionals in the age group of the late-20s to the late-30s in sectors ranging from banking to tech industries as well as the public sector.

Another respondent said he was aware of a newly-married couple – both holding management-level local government jobs – borrowing money to migrate to a western country where they had relatives. They were brushing up on their English. Whether their applications would be approved remains to be seen, as western embassies are selective these days in approving visa applications as a large percentage of those are migrating for economic reasons.

The ‘selective’ approval of visas has also adversely affected those genuinely travelling abroad on holiday and businessrelated work.

At one western embassy, staff was struggling to cope with nearly 15,000 applications in that month. Many applications were rejected. “The Sri Lankan economic crisis has compelled the embassy to screen through ‘every minute information’ submitted together with the application which is taking longer than usual. Earlier, a visa that was granted within a month or less from the day of applying is now taking three to six months to process,” one embassy official was quoted as saying.

As I dwelt on these issues, the phone rang. It was Ruwanputha, my young economist-friend on the line. I hoped against hope that he was not calling to discuss his future and an inclination to join the flight of valuable human capital – a move which would deprive Sri Lanka of a large number of young professionals, skilled and unskilled workers. At this rate, we would be forced to hire more foreign workers which is the case currently in the construction industry with workers from India and other South Asian countries.

If Sri Lanka is witnessing a mass exodus of human capital, it would be the fourth mass exodus of people since independence, starting off with the flight of the Ceylon Burghers in the 1960/70s, followed by Sri Lankans migrating for employment in West Asia in the 1970s, the flight of the Tamils during the 1980s to escape the ethnic conflict and now the flight of young people unsure of a future in Sri Lanka.

Unfortunately, this was the topic of interest for Ruwanputha. “Should I migrate too? The negative statements from governing politicians that the country is facing a food crisis and that there is no end to the fuel crisis, in addition to instability in the political arena, are not comforting at all for young professionals,” he said.

For the first time, I was stumped for an answer – to urge him not to leave would mean playing around with his future and to urge him to leave (and many others too) would adversely impact on the economic future of the country: It was case of damned if I do and damned if I don’t.

Another respondent on FB who is an academic said that parents want their children to get “the hell out of here” even as students, going through a tedious process to get university entrance offers and visas. Some universities have deferred applications, citing issues in Sri Lanka.

“Everybody is trying to leave these days. Personally, I don’t see any future in this country for my kids. It’s very sad but so is the suffering that people undergo here,” said another FB respondent. There were also FB respondents who said that despite the problems, their children studying abroad wanted to return to the country.

The truth hurts…..however painful it is and the fourth exodus of Sri Lankans for both jobs and education, in addition to finding a permanent home overseas is on. As I sipped my second mug of tea, it was a depressing thought to reflect and write about – the large outflow of human capital.