Idea 367 of 500. Cluster 18: Sri Lankans abroad, both directions
Family-roots trips for the second generation: the grandparents' village traced, visited and explained
The mechanism, from the book
1.5 million people abroad who know how rich countries work, and who send home money and little else.
Every idea in cluster 18 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Ask 3 families abroad whose children were born there whether they would pay to have the grandparents' village traced and a day there arranged: the house, the school, the place of worship, and an older neighbour who remembers the family. Do the research for one family, write it up in 4 pages with photographs, and price the day. A family that books the trip is the proof.
- Who pays first
- A parent abroad whose children know the grandparents' village only as a name, and who wants them to stand in it once.
- What leaves today
- The second generation loses the thread to the island, and with it the visits, the money and the interest that might have come home later.
The idea and the mechanism are from the book. The first step was written for this site as a suggestion; if you know a better one, say so.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
The only test any idea on this site has to pass. The four rules that go with it are here.
In the book
- Ch. EightWhat It Costs to Go First
What bonds sold to Sri Lankans abroad have and have not done - Ch. SixteenThe Bridge
The institutions that could carry value back
More from cluster 18
- 361A directory of Sri Lankans abroad: who does what, where, and what they will help with, verified
- 362Return-relocation services: the school, the house, the car, the tax, in one package
- 363Sri Lanka House in London, Melbourne and Toronto: a shop, a café and a desk, the Colombo model abroad
- 364Money-transfer products that buy a specific thing at home (a course, a machine, a roof) rather than cash
- 365Investment clubs of Sri Lankans abroad that own one business each at home, with a manager on the ground
- 366Import agencies in each city with a Sri Lankan community, stocking Sri Lankan brands and nothing else
Idea 367 of the 500 in the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? Every one can be started by one person, one family or one small firm.