“Nobody wants them,” says Rajyotsava Awardee Corrine Rasquinha on helping destitutes
Mangaluru: “Today one is a tailor, one is a cook, and one is a carpenter,” said 2025 Rajyotsava Awardee Corrine Rasquinha speaking about the destitute people whom she took from the streets. “Nobody wants them; they think they are useless,” she said, referring to the mentally ill people she has spent her life uplifting.
Corrine will be conferred with the prestigious award for her community service on Saturday, November 1. Founder of White Doves Psychiatric Nursing and Destitute Home, Rasquinha has been serving the community for the past three decades, uplifting the destitutes, homeless, and mentally ill people.
Speaking to Vartha Bharathi, Corrine said that “It feels good that the government recognized the work without any applications or recommendations.”
Reflecting on receiving the Karnataka Rajyotsava Award for her service to the poor and the abandoned, she said, “It’s like a ‘thank you’ from the government, a sign that the work has reached the state level, and gratitude from them for the work do.”
What began as a small act of kindness has now grown into a full-fledged movement of compassion; she started community service in the year 1993.
Started the mission using music
Corrine revealed that she found meaning in life in serving the people, despite her belonging to an affluent family.
“Later on I started using my talent of siging, I am a musician and a singer, so I began bringing people together and going out to perform Christmas programs and shows to raise funds. We visited Wenlock and Lady Goschen Hospitals, taking out the people there, and gradually, the work began to grow,” she said.
She recalled, “When I saw there were people living on the streets with nowhere to go, somebody offered me a house. I kept them there. Then somebody else saw this and gave me another house to use. So, I had two houses leased out. I kept men in one, women in another, and children in a third. Later, someone saw me feeding people on the street and she offered her house, so I opened a home for children. That’s how the work continued to expand.”
“Faced a lot of ridicule in my life”
Corrine also revealed that she faced a lot of ridicules in her life and that she was barren and could not have children even post five years of marriage.
“I had lost both my fallopian tubes. I underwent artificial insemination, tried test-tube baby procedures, everything under the sun, but everything failed. I was later blessed with a daughter, who is married now with 2 children. So now I am a grandmother too this blessing of the child got me to commit my life to serving Jesus by serving the least, last, and lost,” added Corrine.
Corrine also shared how she came back from death after battling cancer and hepatitis B. In 2009, she was diagnosed with third-stage breast cancer. “Some reports said I began my charity work after my illness, but that’s untrue. I started this work in 1993. During it, I faced cancer, underwent chemotherapy and radiation, and later contracted acute Hepatitis B. Doctors declared I would die within hours, but miraculously, I survived. My body expelled the virus, and I was healed completely.”
She also revealed that this experience prompted her to go to bishop and explain that if she died, the people under her care would return to the streets. “He donated land, and we built a 200-bed psychiatric nursing home for the destitute. I returned the leased houses to their owners because they had trusted me,” she said.
Another illness tested her she shared that, “In 2023, I battled fourth-stage bone cancer. I have faced many physical problems, but miraculously, I have continued to heal. I was given only 3 to 48 months to live in 2023, perhaps to prepare myself for the worst. Yet, within just six months, the cancer went into remission again. I am now off medication.”
“People think they are useless”
She also said that nobody wants to take them in and that they are useless. She said that, “in my experience, I have taken in people who were completely naked, lost, and unaware of their surroundings. Today, some of them have become tailors, cooks, and carpenters. Most of them were abandoned because of mental health issues, personal weaknesses, or alcohol addiction. They were thrown out of their homes and families, often sinking into depression, and were considered useless by their families and sometimes even by the authorities.”
“But I always tell them to look at examples around them. My personal driver, for instance, was once one of the people we rescued from the streets. He used to come to us for food, because for the past 29 years, we have been serving one hot meal every day to people living rough on the streets. Today, that same man has been my driver for 10 years. He turned his life around after struggling with alcohol addiction and homelessness,” she added.
She recounted stories of rehabilitation and reunion. She shared, “So far, over 1500 people have been rehabilitated and 479 have been reunited with their families across India and even from places like Nepal and Bangladesh. One man was so aggressive he couldn’t be approached. We kept him safely in isolation, treated him gently, and over time, he transformed. Months later, we traced his family in Tamil Nadu and reunited them. That’s what love can do.”
On asking what role does faith play in her life and her mission, Corrine said that it has been her purpose to show god that I love him.
“When asked about the role of faith in my life and this journey, I can only say that it has been everything to me. Because of the many miracles that have happened in my life, my faith has only grown stronger. The very first miracle was the gift of having a child when it was medically impossible. For five years, I had tried everything. I had lost one ovary and both my fallopian tubes. There was absolutely no medical or biological way I could conceive,” she added.
She also stated, “Yet, by God’s grace, I was blessed with a daughter. Today, she is married and has two children of her own. That miraculous gift of motherhood deepened my commitment to prayer and service. For me, faith and action must always go together; that is how I live my life.”
“Deep-rooted stigma both in society and government.”
Corrine opined that there is a deep-rooted stigma, both in society and within the government. “People believe those who behave differently are incurable or abandoned by God. Many were left at railway stations by their own families and forgotten. Some boarded random trains and wandered for years. That’s how they end up here. I always tell people, show them love. Don’t use force. Only love heals,” she said.
“People often ask me how these individuals end up in my home, and I tell them, I have the whole of India with me. You can name any state, and we have someone from there, even from distant places like Nepal and Bangladesh.” She said.
Social media hazardous to health; accept challenges: Corrine to youth
Speaking on youth and social media, Corrine pointed out that social media is draining people emotionally and mentally, even leading to the breakdown of relationships and marriages. She said that its hazardous to health as well as to mind.
“The youth must rise and take responsibility because they are our future. They need to step into fields where they reach out to others and contribute to society. Otherwise, we are moving toward a world where everyone lives only for themselves,” she added.
“Today, with one or two children in a family, everyone wants everything, even when parents cannot afford it. If one child gets an iPhone and the other does not, the other might even resort to suicide. We are heading in a completely different direction, where life revolves around money and ambition. Either we chase these things blindly, or we lose direction in life altogether,” she added.
She further stated that, “But I want to tell the youth, if you have faith in God, you can face anything. Crises will come; challenges will come. Walk the narrow path; it’s okay. You will find victory there. Nobody wants difficulties, nobody wants challenges, nobody wants pain. But I say, accept them. Take them in your stride, move forward as much as you can, and you will surely be successful.”
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BJP to fight Assam polls on twin planks of development, secure state
Guwahati (PTI): In a bid to win the Assam Assembly elections for the third time in a row, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday advised the state BJP brass to fight on twin planks: development and a secure state.
Shah, who wound up a two-day visit to Assam, held a nearly two-hour-long meeting with senior leaders of the BJP state unit at the party headquarters here, with a focus on discussing strategy for the state elections, expected in March-April.
Briefing reporters after the closed-door meeting, BJP Assam president Dilip Saikia said, "Development and a secure Assam will be our twin electoral planks."
He also said that Shah, known for his expertise in electoral politics, has offered valuable suggestions, and based on it, an action plan to retain power in the state will be formulated soon.
“Discussions were held in detail on our organisational and political calendars. Shah ji offered some very valuable suggestions, and we will implement those at the earliest…We will share more details on the action plan soon,” Saikia said.
He further said that the Union minister exhorted the state party leadership to ensure that not only do they secure a ‘massive landslide victory’ but also bag more seats than in the previous election.
The BJP currently leads a coalition government in Assam with the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and United People's Party Liberal (UPPL), while the Bodoland People's Front (BPF) has also extended support.
In the 126-member Assembly, the BJP now has 64 legislators, while its allies AGP, UPPL and BPF have nine, seven and three memnbers, respectively. In the opposition camp, the Congress’ strength is 26, while AIUDF has 15 members and CPI(M) one. There is an Independent legislator also, belonging to Raijor Dal.
Saikia said that the party will continue to contest the state polls in coalition with its NDA allies, which was also favoured by Shah.
Dismissing reports of chinks in the ruling coalition, the Lok Sabha MP said, “As far as the NDA is concerned, we are united in Assam. There could be discussions about some issues on individual party forums.”
The saffron party has maintained that its alliance with the regional parties will continue, and formalities like seat-sharing arrangements are being worked out.
Shah, who was on his second visit to the state within a month, attended two other events in Dibrugarh and Dheamji earlier in the day. He left for West Bengal after the meeting at the Guwahati state party headquarters.
