Aryan* is a bright four-year-old, curious and energetic. He is already in school, in a reception class, and looking forward to joining the first grade in June.

And when he’s not in school he is at the Beacon Centre, an after-school project supported by Blythswood Care to help children growing up in the red-light district of Mumbai, India’s biggest city.

Recently Aryan’s mother appeared at the Beacon Centre in floods in tears. Her partner, Aryan’s father, was missing but she was too scared to make a report at the police station. Being from a neighbouring country, she was worried that she might be deported.

“We persuaded her it was best to make a missing person report, and we went with her to the police station,” says Asmita, who runs the Beacon Centre. “They traced Aryan’s father a week later but he had run off with another woman.”

Now while Aryan enjoys playing with the other children there and has his mind engaged with games and puzzles, his mother is receiving counselling and guidance from the team at the Beacon Centre. “She is determined to do what is best for her little boy,” Asmita says.

*not his real name