Gopal Vaakode trudged 10 miles every day to sell nibbles to tourists... and literally earned peanuts. If he left the beach with £1 in his pocket, it was a good day for the young boy.
It was barely enough to feed his three sisters and parents, who lived with him in a roadside tent. But it was a duty Gopal accepted.
And it was while selling peanuts on a beach in Goa, India, that fate brought him into contact with a British family who would change his life for ever.
Gopal was 12 when he met Carol Thomas, 57, partner Colin Hanson, 64, and his sister-in-law Linda Hanson, 68. Instead of buying nuts, they took him shopping for clothes and food for his family.
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