During recent months, Nadeeka Priyadharshani, a garment factory worker living in Katunayake, close to Sri Lanka’s major international airport, faced a new constraint when sending children to school — food.
As a result of the spiraling economic crisis, her family had to depend on a vegetable with rice for an entire day. However, there are some days there’s nothing to cook, and no money to buy food, forcing Priyadarshani to keep the children home.
Priyadarshani is not alone in her predicament. As the unprecedented economic crisis in Sri Lanka wreaked havoc, disrupted livelihoods and saw businesses go bankrupt, many families started struggling for essentials such as food, medicine and fuel. Depleting foreign currency reserves made imported food items both expensive and scarce. A…
