Did you ever look at your life and think you’d never end up here, raising children you once couldn’t imagine having? Namulanta Kombo catches up with her old Kenyan school friend, Fiona. When they were teenagers, having children felt like something far off in the future. But life moves on, and now they both have sons who are the same age. This episode is the first of a few Dear Son conversations within this series. It’s a gentle shift from Namulanta’s usual Dear Daughter letters. She and Fiona talk about what it’s been like to raise boys, the memories they carry from their own childhoods, and the futures they hope their sons will grow into. Their chat leads them to a simple but big question: What makes a man? To find out more about Dear Daughter, to take part, or read our privacy notice, please go to www.bbcworldservice.com/deardaughter. Or you can contact the team via WhatsApp on +44 800 030 4404.
Keeping traditions
20/03/2026 | 18 mins.
Tamaki talks about her daughter’s Seijin no Hi, Japan’s Coming of Age Day, the annual January celebration for young adults in the country who have turned 20 years old in the past year. In a letter to her daughter, she looks back on the day and everything it brought with it: the excitement, the realisation that her daughter is stepping into adulthood, and the beautiful kimono that her daughter wore. Tamaki tells Namulanta Kombo that even though she never attended her own coming-of-age ceremony, she is keen to make sure her children, even while growing up abroad, still feel connected to the traditions she loves. To find out more about Dear Daughter, to take part, or read our privacy notice, please go to www.bbcworldservice.com/deardaughter. Or you can contact the team via WhatsApp on +44 800 030 4404.
Surviving my daughter’s killing
13/03/2026 | 23 mins.
When 19-year-old Ann from Florida, USA was shot by her boyfriend in 2010, her family were thrust into a nightmare, one that meant taking the agonising decision to withdraw her life support. In this intensely moving account of violence and loss, Ann’s mother, Kate, tells Namulanta that instead of pursuing the traditional court process, she chose something almost unheard of at the time - restorative justice. Sitting face to face with the man who killed her daughter she entered a process that allowed her to shape his sentence and speak openly about the impact of Ann’s death. In her highly emotional letter to Ann for Dear Daughter, Kate reveals an extraordinary decision—one that will stay with you long after her story ends.
To find out more about Dear Daughter, to take part, or read our privacy notice, please go to www.bbcworldservice.com/deardaughter. Or you can contact the team via WhatsApp on +44 800 030 4404.
Being a girl dad
06/03/2026 | 18 mins.
Ajit, a dad from India, tells Namulanta about realising just how tough the world can be for his daughters as they grow up in a male dominated society. He’s funny, honest and totally unfiltered as he talks about being on a huge learning curve as a ‘girl dad’, and admits that parenting is far harder than any management job he’s ever had. And the conversation ends with a very emotional moment, as Ajit reveals how he discovered what truly matters in his life. To find out more about Dear Daughter, to take part, or read our privacy notice, please go to www.bbcworldservice.com/deardaughter. Or you can contact the team via WhatsApp on +44 800 030 4404.
The gift of life
27/02/2026 | 19 mins.
Brenda, a Canadian mother living with chronic kidney disease, was facing a long and uncertain wait for a transplant, until 2013 when her daughter Kielah stepped forward with an extraordinary act of love. Kielah volunteered to donate a kidney, but when tests revealed she wasn’t a match, she refused to give up. Instead, she entered Canada’s paired exchange programme, donating her kidney to a stranger so that Brenda could receive a compatible one in return. In a poignant letter for Dear Daughter, Brenda reflects on the “ticking clock” of living with a transplant and her daily gratitude for the daughter whose selflessness saved her life. Now a mother herself, Kielah tells Namulanta Kombo about watching her mum’s decline and why, despite the risks, she didn’t hesitate to give up a kidney to save her mum. To find out more about Dear Daughter, to take part, or read our privacy notice, please go to www.bbcworldservice.com/deardaughter. Or you can contact the team via WhatsApp on +44 800 030 4404.
Extraordinary letters written from parents to their children with Namulanta Kombo. Sharing amazing real-life experiences, parenting advice, family stories and life lessons. Dear Daughter is an award-winning podcast from the BBC World Service about love, life, family, and raising children. It is the brainchild of Namulanta Kombo, a mother on a quest to create a ‘handbook to life’ for her daughter, through the advice of parents from all over the world. Each episode, a guest reads a letter they’ve written to their children (or their future children, or the children they never had) with the advice, life lessons, and personal stories they’d like to pass on. Expect unbelievable true stories, inspirational advice for parents, and moving accounts of families, relationships and raising children. Share your letter! What do you want to say to your kids? Or the next generation? Do you have thoughts on motherhood, fatherhood, or parenthood to share? Whether you are a mum or mom, dad or papa, grandparent, uncle, aunt, daughter, son or just want to write a letter, send us a Whatsapp message on +44 800 030 4404 or visit bbcworldservice.com/deardaughter. You can read our privacy notice here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3ZFHNV8v7qgTm1zbKbkwsvR/dear-daughter-privacy-notice
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