I believe we all have a story to tell in a crisis like this and I would like to share mine as I hope this will help somebody out there to take life seriously and be prepared to face any situation in life.

As you know when COVID-19 hit Sri Lanka it was a totally chaotic situation. I remember people running to the streets to buy stuff for their homes and seeing people panic all over the place thinking that it was the end of the world. The government sent red warnings about how to keep yourself safe with all the protocols but it was still a very much confusing state.

At this time I was working for a tourism company in Colombo, it was a reputed company that was very much involved with inbound tourism in Sri Lanka. Things happened so fast that I still think that it was a bad dream! By the end of March 2020, almost all of the employees were told to work from home mainly due to health reasons because of COVID-19. Even though we had a small team who were working in the company, it was strange getting into the habit of working from home.

Soon after that, things pretty much became worse as the virus was spreading all around the country. People were suffering without a means to earn money and carry on their day-to-day lives. We had to learn to manage things by staying at home. The children were without schools and offices were closed. We managed to buy our groceries and vegetables from the suppliers who came to our neighborhood, as many outlets were closed. This was a different life and it was more of suffocation for me. Since my husband was working for a supermarket chain it was some sort of relief as we managed to get our daily needs through some contacts where many couldn’t.

I didn’t have much work when it came to my job as there was no tourism running in the country and most of the clients were either canceling their visits to the island or leaving the country. This led to pay cuts for all the employees and ultimately we were told the company would no longer be able to pay us and this was a hard hit for us. It was almost like losing your job!

Over the past couple of months, I have learned to manage my “new normal” life with two kids at home. Even though my husband had work, it was a tough life. I was very much determined to find another job. Several years ago I was a telemarketer and it was okay work for me but I was thinking how soon can I get a job offer? And this was the time I understood that there won’t be a better time than this to try and start my own business.

With a little bit of savings, my husband and I started a catering business, and at the start, it was a fairly slow running business but later on with quality and tasty food items, things improved. We didn’t have many people to help us since everybody had their own situation but I realize this: How hard can you get hit and still stand strong? God is always good to us and He will always make a way for us during life’s tough situations. We should be always proactive and be strong to face any life situation even if it gets pretty much bad.