I am a Sri Lankan wife and mum - there's an economic crisis in my country and suicide rates are at an all time high, we need prayer

Sri Lanka – once known as “the pearl of the Indian Ocean” – is truly a land like no other! Rich in history and culture, blessed with abundant natural bounty, it is famed for its Ceylon tea and spices, and its warm and welcoming people.

As a product of two heritages (my mother is Sri Lankan and my father is English) growing up I often felt as if I had my foot in both worlds. However, Sri Lanka is where I have felt called to put down roots, to raise my two boys, for better or worse.

Recently this island nation has experienced more than its fair share of “worse”. Having just reared our heads from a 30-year ethnic war, we were starting to find our feet and were even promoted to an “upper middle-income country”. Sadly, we did not have much time to enjoy this status.

The Easter bombing attack in 2019 saw 250 people – including 45 children – killed in their place of worship on one of the most sacred days in the Christian calendar. Surely Jesus Himself wept with those who mourned that day, and the country reeled from it. 

We faced an extremely worrying period - unsure of how to feed our families.

Not even a year later came COVID, and an extreme reaction by the Government. Rather than a lockdown, we had the sudden imposition of an island-wide curfew. People were not allowed to step out of their houses for any reason, facing arrest (or worse!) if seen on the road. Since we were unprepared, and online grocery portals were not yet established, we faced an extremely worrying period - unsure of how to feed our families. My children at the time were just one and three years old, and as a mother I spent many sleepless nights wondering how to give them adequate nutrition at such a crucial growing stage. This curfew lasted for more than two months, and our larders were barely supplemented by food trucks carrying basic dry rations coming around neighbourhoods, and online order capabilities finally being launched (although unreliable and time-consuming). 

Looking back, I have to say that somehow the Lord did always provide. My children never went hungry, and through all of the worry we actually were able to have quality family time together, enforced but appreciated. Yet I am painfully aware that we are a privileged few – there were many who starved, many whose marriages suffered, many whose children had to witness or experience domestic violence, many who even took their own lives.

Just when we thought that the threat of COVID was abating, and life was resuming some sort of normalcy – our country entered an economic crisis with no warning. Without the USD inflow from tourism (our main export), foreign reserves had depleted so much that we were unable to sustain imports. From March this year commenced a new period of uncertainty – month-long shortages of petrol, of cooking gas, of basic medicines and groceries (we are arguably import-dependent). 

There were many who starved, many whose marriages suffered, many whose children had to witness or experience domestic violence, many who even took their own lives.

I remember when my husband woke up at 4am and waited in a petrol queue for ten hours, only for the petrol to run out when he was two cars away. It was his birthday. My in-laws turned to campfires to cook their meals, and firewood was in high demand. Fresh or cooked food could not be stored, as daily powercuts ranging from two to ten hours made refrigerators unreliable. The lack of petrol meant schools were closed yet again (ed. In a country where internet penetration is low, online schooling is only for the privileged few). It has been a surreal period.

The World Food Programme warns that an estimated 6.3 million in Sri Lanka (out of a total population of 22 million) have been pushed into acute food insecurity. Suicide rates are soaring every day, with parents buckling under the pressures of providing for their children. Sri Lanka’s inflation rate became the fourth highest in the world, touching 100 per cent this year. Daily powercuts continue for the seventh month and counting.

I remember when my husband woke up at 4am and waited in a petrol queue for ten hours, only for the petrol to run out when he was two cars away.

Pushed to the brink of endurance, Sri Lankans young and old staged a three-month long, national protest which finally resulted in the President resigning from his post in July. This exercising of the people’s mandate has been unprecedented in a politically apathetic country, with thick-skinned, unaccountable politicians. I participated in some of the protests, and was actually heartened to see a beautiful spirit of unity in a time where religious and ethnic division had been at a peak. 

Seeking God through the confusion has been hard. Why had He permitted this unusual suffering? We felt helpless. The Christian community in Sri Lanka is very much the minority, making up only seven per cent of the demographic. However there is a spirit of revival which has been establishing ground, and the church is active and growing in number daily. I now truly believe that this is a time of sifting, for corruption and evil to be revealed from the shadows, for strongholds to come tumbling down. God is making Himself known in Sri Lanka. This has given me strength to persevere in prayer and in purpose.

Please join us in praying:

• That the nation of Sri Lanka, at this time brought to its knees, will find God there. That He will sustain and provide.
• That the principalities of bloodshed, corruption and deceit which have taken root will be eradicated by the rising up of righteous men and women “for such a time as this” (Esth. 4:14).
• That the oppression of the minorities and the disenfranchised will never happen again, and that true reconciliation will take place between all religious and ethnic groups.
• That the witchcraft and the occult so prevalent will be exposed as the false gods that they are. That people will turn to Jesus instead.
• That the Church will be strengthened in this time to stand firm and united, and be the salt and light to a hurting nation.