Media Release

Mangaluru, Aug 24: A destitute was rescued and reunited with his family by White Doves on Wednesday August 24.

White Doves, on their daily food distribution trips, had seen Ravi lying on the street outside KMC Hospital at Jyothi for over a week and would give him food everyday as he was unwilling to relocate to the Ashram.

In October last year, the White Doves team convinced Ravi to come to the home. He had lost his mind because of being jobless and penniless during the lockdown. When the trains resumed services and since all construction work had come to a standstill, Ravi being a mason, headed to Gujarat in search of a job. Without any success he was helped by a Good Samaritan to return home to Rajiv Nagar, Udayampur in Mysuru. With the second lockdown in 2021 and still having no job, no money and no help in sight, Ravi became desperate for being able to provide for his wife and daughter. His so called friends would give him alcohol and drugs and having lost his mind completely he landed in Mangaluru. He did not know how he reached Mangaluru and no one back home in Mysuru had any idea where Ravi had disappeared. When a frantic search was made by his wife and family without any luck, they approached the police station. The police wanted a photograph to file the complaint but since they did not have even a photograph of Ravi, they had to return home and resign to the fact that Ravi is lost or dead somewhere.

While speaking to White Doves, Corrine Rasquinha informed Daijiworld that just a week ago when Ravi along with other inmates saw a documentary of White Doves, he was hopeful of going back and started revealing a few details to the manager Jerald Fernandes who left no stone unturned to locate his wife and daughter. With the help of the police in Mysuru and the address given by Ravi, the police were able to locate the family and inform them of Ravi in Mangaluru. Phone numbers were exchanged, video calls were made and a tearful connection was renewed.

Ravi’s wife Soumya and daughter Deepika who studies in the 6th standard arrived at White Doves on Wednesday. It was a tear filled but happy reunion.

“This gives us the greatest joy to see families reunited,” said founder Corrine Rasquinha, this being the 396th reunion.

Over 1,000 have been rehabilitated from the streets of Mangaluru through the selfless services of White Doves, a premiere NGO in Mangaluru, which runs a 200-bed, state-of-the-art, psychiatric nursing and destitute home in Maroli here.