Keeping in mind that most rural homes do not buy newspapers, have a radio or TV, a campaign should be carried out through the temple monk, the school principal, the grama sevaka or some such grassroots level worker who has access to the men, women and children in the villages. Their help should be sought to make potential migrant workers aware of the dangers in foreign countries and what precautions can be taken against unscrupulous middlemen. They could also direct these villagers to the bureau's many centres for advice and guidance. Every single returning worker must be cared for. This would mean deploying more officers and more funds, but the migrant worker sector is important to the Sri Lankan economy and in the long term, it would ensure that the bureau is on top of the situation by being the first to be aware of cases like Kusumawathie.
Most workers are ignorant of rules and regulations.
Welfare officers need to go looking for them, instead of the other way round for complaints and connected issues. If we can treat tourists like kings, why not the same for migrant workers, who are the country's biggest foreign exchange earners, superseding tourism and garments, which are favoured sectors by the government. The same guidelines should apply to outbound migrant workers. Such leaflets could be distributed through grama sevakas, village officials, community or non-governmental organisations. The simplest way could be the postman.