SRI LANKA REVISITED
Part 2
We are in constant contact with Akitha because he wants to know our route and our impressions from the trip.
The atmosphere in Akitha's restaurant thickens. The German doesn't want to give him his days off, not even one.
Additionally, Akitha, after some special physical effort, experienced intense pain in his calf, which is a symptom of discopathy. A local doctor practicing Ayurveda, which is traditional Indian medicine that began in the 12th century B.C., lubricates him with oils and assures him that they will help in some time.
I think that his own young body should help him, and the best thing for him would be exercises to stretch the spine.
He constantly tells me how the restaurant owner treats him by giving him the worst jobs during his shift. "I'm not his favorite," says Akitha.
The culmination is the refusal to pay Akitha’s salary for December, which was supposed to happen before Christmas. Without giving a reason. Penalty for taking a day off accepted by the manager, but without the boss's consent? (That's what Akitha thinks). Who would care about a hired worker without any rights?
It turns out that in Sri Lanka a foreign employer has more rights here than local employees. There is no one to appeal to. Corruption prevents access to advocating for human/labor rights.
The search for a new job is fruitless because there is no job with accommodation, no job for one shift and no job with a salary that would cover the cost of renting a room in the city.
Akitha wants to keep his job at the Swiss man’s house because he finds the job and place just right.
The accumulation of all Akitha's problems before our departure means that we leave Sri Lanka with a vague belief that maybe we could, in some way, remedy the situation and help Akitha's family and himself get out of this trap.
We do not inform Akitha about our thoughts.
Already at home, we were discussing ways to make it easier to start the procedure of building one bungalow on Akitha's parents' plot. It would be the beginning of a good, independent business. Without getting involved in expensive, merciless loans. We assume that banks take the land as collateral and this may lead to homelessness in some families... Does anyone care about this when signing a loan agreement?
We make a decision: we will help finance the construction of the first bungalow. The condition is to know the business plan, the feasibility of the project, and the involvement of interested parties.
We won't be able to achieve all this in a conversation or over the phone. Next decision: we're going to Sri Lanka! However, economic calculations showed that we could not afford two flight tickets and other costs for both of us. So, I will fly to Sri Lanka alone.
The expedition may not work out, but without such an attempt it would be difficult for us to accept and let go of what we had seen and experienced in Sri Lanka.
We won't save the world, but maybe we have a chance to create decent living conditions for at least one family.
