Sri Lanka (MNN) — Mahinda Rajapaksa has resigned as the prime minister of Sri Lanka. Most of the powerful Rajapaksa family is currently hiding at a military base as the Sri Lankan people demand their removal.
The President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, clings to power as large protests take place in the capital, Colombo. Rajeeve Satianathan with Christian World Outreach says, “The big thing that people want is bringing businesses to Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, the huge complaint is the corruption in the government. There were so many foreign funds that came to Sri Lanka, but most of them were never used properly.”
Last week, things turned violent as pro-government protestors attacked the makeshift protest village in Colombo, injuring several people with iron rods. Protestors also stormed government buildings.
Economic crisis
Sri Lanka’s people languish in a horrific economic crisis. In just a few days last week, the prices of some goods tripled. Many people do not have fuel with which to cook.
A rushed transition to organic farming has worsened the crisis as well, Sathianathan says. “People want to do organic farming. But completely turning [the chemicals] off and turning the organic farming on, the people had no idea how to do it. And they had zero help.”
CWO ministry
CWO works among small villages, helping those in need. Sathianathan says, “We are helping the elderly women and widows with dry food. At the same time, we are providing seeds so they can do their own gardening and grow vegetables. We buy seeds and provide them to the families.”
They started with one village in the North of the island. But Satianathan says, “We have started doing the same thing in the south of Sri Lanka as well.”
Pray Sri Lankan Christians would shine the hope of Jesus into a desperate situation.
The header photo shows protestors in Colombo, Sri Lanka. (Photo courtesy of AntanO, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)
