When Vandana’s marriage ended in divorce, she felt stigmatised and outcast. After a long and turbulent legal process, she ended up retraining as a divorce lawyer and setting up a group for others who felt unable to talk about the breakdown of their marriages.

In the process, she found out what was really happening inside the marriages of many Indian women. She’s since remarried and has twin sons but she wants to tell the daughters of India that they have choices, and that no-one needs to stay in a bad marriage.

Letter writer: Vandana

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 extraordinary true stories, inspirational advice for parents, and moving accounts of families, relationships and raising daughters.

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 www.bbcworldservice.com/deardaughter

Rahab went to prison when her children were little. She’d been taking part in carjackings and armed robberies. Once she got caught, she spent six years at Langata women’s prison in Nairobi, Kenya.

While she was in prison, she managed to turn her life around – but how can she rebuild her relationship with her three children, and make up for the time she missed?

Namulanta visits Langata to meet Rahab and finds out what life is like for current inmates who have children.

Letter writer: Rahab

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 extraordinary true stories, inspirational advice for parents, and moving accounts of families, relationships and raising daughters.

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 www.bbcworldservice.com/deardaughter

When Mahynour’s daughter gets her first bra, it’s Mahynour who is the most excited – her little girl is a young lady now. But it also brings Mahynour’s memories of her own teenage years flooding back. She remembers not wanting to wear a bra – she felt ashamed of the changes in her body, and she didn’t know who to talk to. How can she make sure her daughter has a better experience? Luckily, her female relatives are on hand to help out…

Letter writer: Mahynour 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 extraordinary true stories, inspirational advice for parents, and moving accounts of families, relationships and raising daughters.

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 www.bbcworldservice.com/deardaughter

Audio for this episode was updated on 1 May 2025.