The woman sat there, at the corner of a street in Punjagutta, old and haggard, and unable to move or eat. And 29-year-old Rachna (name changed) knew something was seriously amiss.
Not knowing what to do, she finally managed to get the number of George Ramesh Babu from a friend.
George, who runs the NGO Good Samaritans India, reached the spot at night, and took the destitute woman to his shelter home in Alwal.
“When we found her, she could not even speak or move. After giving her a bath and food, we learnt from her that she is from Karnataka, and was abandoned,” George said.
George looks after 23 others at his shelter home, and all of them were rescued from the streets. He is helped by his wife Sunita George and full-time volunteer Venkat, who cook, feed, bathe and take care of the destitute people they have rescued.
“We have 40 such people in total. Those who can walk and are not physically weak are taken care of in a school we took on rent in Raghunathpalli in Warangal,” George said.
The 39-year-old, who is a trained 104 service employee, initially started a free clinic along with his wife and a friend named Yesukala, a nurse, in 2009.
“We used to treat people for free, and those who required constant treatment would stay back at the clinic. In fact, Venkat chose to work for us for free. His brother had bone marrow cancer, and we helped him out. So he wants to help us now,” he explained.
The turning point – when George decided to convert it to a shelter home – came after the owner of an orphanage fell sick, to the point that they had to take care of him for a year.
“We wondered what those who have nothing do when they need help. At our shelter, there are people who suffer from cancer, and others require constant medication due to problems like diabetes,” George explained.
Nine adopted
Of the 40 people, nine have been ‘adopted’ by people who support him financially.
“We don’t ask money. People can help however they want to, but it would be good if more inmates would be ‘adopted’,” mentioned George. He can be reached at 95028-36586.
