KHAMMAM: Sunil Gogai, 35, a person with a mental illness, reached Khammam a few years back. Hailing from Assam, Sunil Gogai arrived on a train that he boarded without the knowledge of his family members. While he was on the streets, not knowing where to go, a few police officials noticed Gogai and sent him to the Annam Seva Foundation. Similarly, the foundation has been providing shelter to another person named Markus, a resident of Jharkhand, too for the past four years.
Thanks to the selfless efforts of the organisation members, the two persons in distress have finally reunited with their respective families. According to sources, ever since they both reached Annam Seva Foundation, the volunteers had been taking good care of them, providing food and medicines. As a result of the quality treatment provided by the members, the two were finally able to recollect the names of their native village. And, with the help of an IIT-Guwahati professor who hails from Andhra Pradesh, the organisation finally traced their respective families last week.
A volunteer organisation based in Khammam town, Annam Seva Foundation has been rendering yeoman services to destitute persons and those in distress for the past few years. It also takes care of persons with mental illness by providing them treatment, along with food and accommodation, and reunite them with their families, apart from looking after the homeless.
More than 200 success stories
According to sources, the organisation has managed to reunite more than 200 persons, who belong to various States across the country, with their families, since its establishment in 2016. Annam Srinivasa Rao, a retired BSNL employee, set up the organisation to lend a helping to people from all walks of life. He put his entire retirement benefits into this initiative and constructed a temporary building in Khammam town. Later, he remodelled the structure and now it provides accommodation to about 305 mentally and physically challenged persons, and orphans. Srinivasa Rao says that the cooperation of police officials has helped him a lot.
“Nothing makes me happier than reuniting a family with their long-lost dear ones. It’s so satisfying to see the smile on their faces. Though we face difficulties tracing some families as they live in interior parts of other States, we take it as a challenge since these persons in distress won’t be in a position to share much details about their family members and go all out to get the job done,” Srinivasa adds. Khammam legal services authority officials and some others have been supporting the foundation for the past few years.