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“I reinvented myself in Maastricht”

She wants to work where the most vulnerable people need support. “I would work for free, if I didn’t have to feed myself.” Raneesha De Silva works in the humanitarian field, based in her home country Sri Lanka. Every year, she returns to Maastricht; the city that changed her life. 

Initially, Raneesha De Silva thought she’d become a war reporter, so she studied journalism. When she was about ready to go into the field, she felt she wanted to be more useful for the people in that field, who had to deal with the harsh circumstances of war. It led to a study Psychology, plus another domain of psychology that interested her. “Especially the module on abnormal psychology, the very deviant and antisocial behaviours, interested me, which took me down the rabbit hole. I became very academically interested in serial killers, with an emphasis on ‘academically’”, she says smiling. Forensic psychology doesn’t  exist in Sri Lanka, and only when she started searching the internet for a postgraduate programme on her ‘academic interest’, she learned the term. “I’m an Excel-girl, so I made a spreadsheet with all the information I gathered about programmes abroad, I reached out to about fifty universities with questions about their curriculum, scholarship opportunities and more. In the end, my shortlist contained two top choices: Kings College in London and Maastricht University.” 
 

Take a deep dive

The two year programme in Maastricht appealed to her, because it gave her the chance to take a deep dive into the curriculum. Plus, the content of the curriculum was exactly what she was looking for, she recalls. “It was quite comprehensive, covering so many different areas of forensic psychology; very thorough. They offered what matters for you to work in the field.” Problem Based Learning was quite different from the traditional education model she grew up with in Sri Lanka, but since she was often the girl in class asking too many questions, she thought it might be a match. She ended up applying only here and… off she went, leaving Sri Lanka for the first time in her life. 
 

Homesick for Maastricht

“I didn’t know anyone in the country and felt the freedom to discover who I am. It was the first time I was independent, coming from a conservative  community. I had to figure out what finances entailed and how to take care of myself foodwise. It was very liberating; I was not homesick for Sri Lanka at all. I get homesick for Maastricht and the Netherlands, because of this welcoming, liberating experience. I visit the city every year; I don’t have to, but I want to.” She still is very close to the friends she made during her studies. Her class contained of 24 students, with 21 nationalities. “They’re all over the world and we try to meet whenever possible, do video calls for example. In this international classroom, I learned how to be culturally sensitive, understand different communication styles and values and more. This has been immensely helpful for me in my current global advisor role.”

Highlight

Securing internships was a bit of a challenge, because her Sri Lankan passport restricted free movement, but with the help of UM faculty, Raneesha could go to Sydney and Liverpool in the end. “I’m still very grateful that they helped me with that. Especially the Ashworth hospital in the UK was a highlight of my second year, because it was exactly what I expected a clinical internship to be. It is a specialist psychiatric hospital for men with a serious mental illness or personality disorder, who are assessed as presenting a grave risk to others. I felt quite blessed.” 


Also, because she got the opportunity to connect with high esteemed professionals in the field, who recognised her eagerness to do and learn more. At the end of the placement, Raneesha ended up securing a UK Research Council grant to lead a project assessing post-crisis trauma recovery of the Sri Lankan military. At the same time, she also worked as a lecturer in psychology during COVID. “Once the pandemic travel barriers were lifted, I was so sick of working from home, I applied for a position at a non-profit organisation in Iraq. They were looking for an international psychologist to support, train and supervise local psychologists and social workers. I didn’t have the required working experience for the humanitarian field, but I also had nothing to lose by applying. Within two weeks, I moved to Iraq. My parents are still trying to process that”, she laughs
 

Funding cuts

For her current job, at Save the Children International, she’s based in Sri Lanka again, covering Asia and pacific regions. Not all 20+ countries demand her attention at all times, but mainly four high priority countries that have high conflict situations at the moment: Bangladesh, Myanmar, Afghanistan and Pakistan. “I’m also deployed to provide training and supervision, and in case of emergencies, I will also do the field work. I’m not deployed as much as I would like though: because of global funding cuts to the humanitarian field, we are not deployed as much as we were in the past.  But when I do get the chance to go to the field, I feel so alive. When I see a child smile and they hold my hand and thank me, it makes me emotional and I come back home recharged, for working a few months behind the laptop. I don’t care about my safety. I want to be where people need support.”
 

Text: Femke Kools
Photography: Harry Heuts

Raneesha De Silva near water

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