Mangalore: A Mother Waiting for Son's Return for Nine Years
by Richie Lasrado, Resident Editor, Daijiworld.com, Mangalore
Mangalore, Dec 13: Any mother of six children, with five of them married and settled, would have been contented in that situation. But this mother's mission is unfulfilled. Not that one of the six has remained single. It is that he is the one who went to the Middle East for a better tomorrow for the family. It is about nine years now. There is no letter from or contact with him. She is only waiting for the golden tomorrow, symbolized by the return of her third son, Roneus D'Souza.
As she walked into our office on Monday, December 11, there was diffidence and despair writ large on her face. Benedicta D'Souza nee Coelho, originally from Modankap-Bantwal, now a resident of Jeppu-Kudupadi road, has gone through the mill in different ways - losing her husband Michael D'Souza 29 years ago (in 1977), having had to look after the six children who could not afford much of education, then having to wait for this son with whom she now has no contact for nine years, suffering two heart attacks in the process and thus being forced to give up her job of a maternity ward assistant in a hospital in the city five years ago. The story is so poignant.
We kept wondering what made her see us after such a long gap. It was then we realized their financially backward status, with not many around to tell her what to do, or even if there were maybe themselves not sure of what steps could be taken. Then, as said earlier, there were health setbacks for her. When her health improved she went around pleading with several people for help. But nothing worked.
File pics of Rony on the occasion of the wedding of a sister
Surprisingly, more useful and constructive help came from a few Keralite nurses who were working in the same hospital where she had worked. Hearing her sad story, they put her in touch with the Mangalore correspondent of a Malayalam daily, through whom she landed in our office. What an irony !
She told us about her son Rony going abroad, after spending Rs 40,000 for a spray painter's visa, with another acquaintance. THis associate, not happy with the working conditions, is said to have returned to Mangalore in three months. On his return, he had brought a small package - containing a camera and a razor set for Rony's brother and a few other things - from Rony to be delivered at their house. Unfortunately, he happened to visit their house when Benedicta had gone on hospital duty. And until date, she does not know who that associate of Rony is ! There is no contact from him either.
Happy days with mother
For about five or six months, Rony occasionally kept phoning her. He sent Rs 5,000 for an account to be opened and she got her pass book. Having gone through several hardships, Benedicta does not remember the year Rony left for Muscat, but the date is October 20, she faintly remembers.
Trying to lay our hands on whatever leads we could get, we acquired a copy of his baptismal extract, issued by the Infant Jesus Church, Modankap-Bantwal. From this we came to know that his name is Roneus and not Ronald as mentioned to us earlier. So it is possible that his passport too bore the same name.
Now our readers in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman could do a lot to help this family.
From the records, we traced the sponsor's address as follows (no name is available):
P O Box 22 / 512
Al Buraimi
Sultanate of Oman
(It could be obviously Box 22 and Postal Code 512)
Residents of Al Buraimi as also those in the Muscat Capital area with good contacts with the Embassy of India could be of real help. The computerized immigration records should certainly assist in the operation.
Get cracking, folks !
Daijiworld contact in Muscat: 00968-92341826 (Clarence Pinto)
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