Searching for Soldier Dad: 1. Love story

Summary

World of Secrets: Searching for Soldier Dad – Episode 1: Love Story

BBC World Service | Aired: April 20, 2026

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Episode Overview

The first episode of Season 12 of World of Secrets launches an investigation into the lives of Kenyan women and their children who were fathered by British soldiers stationed in Kenya and subsequently abandoned. Host Ivana Davidovich introduces us to Kathy and her mother Maggie in Nanyuki as they embark on a personal journey to find Kathy’s absent, and until recently presumed dead, British father. The episode explores family, love, abandonment, and the search for justice—set against the backdrop of a larger pattern of unresolved paternity and the legacy of British military presence in Kenya.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Living Without a Father (01:42–05:56)

• Kathy, growing up never knowing her father, doesn’t feel the absence until a school event highlights it.
• "I've never really had like a dad, so to know what that feeling is, to actually miss, you can't miss something that you've never had." — Kathy (01:55)
• Her mother, Maggie, had told her that her British soldier father was deployed and likely died, as she felt Kathy was too young for the truth.
• Kathy discovers her father is alive via Facebook, sending him a heartfelt message (05:25), but receives no reply—a void that persists for years.

2. The Broader Context: Nanyuki's Colonial Legacy (07:51–10:48)

• Nanyuki, dubbed “British Town,” is characterized by a visible British army presence and social divides fueled by military money.
• "The army base outside of Nanyuki is their biggest in Africa... With the troops comes money... but there’s a dark and dangerous underbelly." — Ivana (08:35)
• Recurrent allegations against British soldiers: human rights abuses, killings, environmental destruction, and abandoned mixed-race children.

3. Maggie and Phil: A Love Story (10:48–18:52)

• Maggie narrates her courtship with Phil, a British soldier—unexpected, romantic, and eventually, committed.
• Colorful depictions of local attitudes toward the British soldiers, racial and occupational divides among local women.
• Highlights from Maggie’s perspective:
  • "He promised me a lot of things... like how men are, you know." (14:11)
  • Phil’s respectful, involved approach: gifting to her son, ongoing communication even during deployments.
  • Engagement proposal at Nairobi airport: “He just kneeled down… I was confused. What is this? I only see this in the movie.” — Maggie (17:17)
  • Conceiving Kathy shortly after the proposal, Maggie believed in a shared future.

4. Separation and Abandonment (20:49–26:20)

• Phil appears invested post-birth: financially supportive, doting during visits, and promising a life in the UK.
• Letters and persistent contact give way to gradual withdrawal—delayed replies, missed payments, and ultimately, silence.
• Maggie repeatedly reaches out, even through Phil’s mother, but finds herself blocked and ignored.
• The emotional and practical fallout is crushing: "I had so many sleepless nights... I'm thinking they need to live, they need to survive, they need to go to school. So I think I will get back to my feet and start taking care of my kids. And that's what I did." — Maggie (26:01)

5. Personal Crisis and the Quest for Answers (26:20–28:00)

• Years of survival, until a business disaster leaves Maggie in dire straits.
• With no help from Phil and mounting debt, news of DNA detectives and legal advocates arrives—a possible path to justice.

6. The DNA Project: Collective Action (28:00–36:36)

• Introduction of lawyers and DNA experts in a crowded, hopeful-yet-skeptical café meeting.
• "If we find the father, we can give the child a sense of identity... so they can live their life knowing who they are." — Lawyer (29:17)
• Mothers share their stories: short-term flings, long-term relationships, all ending with abandonment and no support.
• Use of commercial DNA databases like Ancestry to try to trace the soldiers, with no guarantees but a commitment to try every legal avenue.
• The initiative highlights the larger, systemic scale of the issue—countless abandoned children, many living in poverty.

7. Kathy’s Inner Conflict and Hopes (33:56–36:36)

• Kathy is realistic about her father: "If I was in the position, I would have thrown [the engagement ring] away a long time because it's a constant reminder of something that was to happen didn't happen." (33:56)
• Torn between wanting closure and loyalty to her mother; recognizes what she’s gained from Maggie’s strength.
• "I'm an insomniac... I just lie down, look at the ceiling, and I'm like, if he was still here, this could have been my life... I'd just be happy. But then I look back, then I'm like, what if it's better that my mom raised me? ... She's taught me to be quite confident. She's taught me to be brave." — Kathy (34:29)
• The hope: DNA testing will provide answers—closure, identity, maybe even justice.

8. The Larger Investigation (36:17–36:41)

• The legal team begins reviewing DNA test results, aiming to confirm paternity and pursue legal action in the UK if possible.
• Ivana frames the investigation as exposing not just individual failings but a wider political and moral scandal.

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Memorable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• "You cannot tell a child, don't do this and expect them to not do it. You will do it. You will do it." — Kathy on discovering her father’s Facebook profile (03:51)
• "She (Kathy) tried also to tell him, 'You know, I can't sleep because I'm thinking where's my father?'" — Maggie recounting Kathy’s message (05:25)
• "This town have a bad name because of [the British army]." — Maggie on local stigma (12:42)
• "I can't wait to take this baby to my country... my baby is not going to get Kenyan passport. Not blue passport, it's a red passport, you know." — Phil (via Maggie) on dreams for Kathy’s dual nationality (22:57)
• "All those years I struggled to live with my son." — A mother describing abandonment experience (32:15)
• "I can't escape it because something in me is like, get to know him, you know, Know your roots... And then there's some part of me which is like, he doesn't care. He was never here for you." — Kathy on her need to know her father (35:20)

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Notable Segments & Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment Description | |------------|----------------------------------------| | 01:42–05:56| Kathy’s discovery and early childhood | | 10:48–18:52| Maggie and Phil’s love story | | 20:49–26:20| The unraveling: abandonment detailed | | 28:00–30:46| The DNA project explained | | 33:56–35:39| Kathy’s internal conflict and hopes | | 36:17–36:41| Legal team begins DNA casework |

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Tone & Atmosphere

The episode blends deep emotion—nostalgia, heartbreak, skepticism, and yearning—with investigative rigor. The speakers are candid, resilient, and at times, vulnerable. Ivana’s narration alternates between empathetic observer and persistent investigator, while the voices of Kathy and Maggie oscillate between hopeful, resigned, and quietly defiant. The overall tone is intimate and contemplative, yet underscored by the tension of unresolved questions and historic injustice.

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Summary

Episode 1: Love Story lays the foundation for a season investigating the personal and collective impact of abandoned children from British military liaisons in Kenya. It follows the intimate journey of Maggie and Kathy as they chase identity, belonging, and accountability—illuminated by the voices of many women and children in similar predicaments. The search for truth is as much about family and self as it is about confronting institutional failures on an international scale. The episode leaves listeners poised for the legal and emotional battles to come, with the promise of DNA testing as both a literal and metaphorical key to the past.

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End of Episode 1 Summary

Transcript

[Podcast Narrator/Advertiser]

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[Podcast Narrator/Advertiser]

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[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

When Kathleen is a little kid, she sees what's there and barely notices what's absent. Her mum is the center of her world. The thought of a dad doesn't even cross her mind.

[Kathy (Daughter)]

I've never really had like a dad, so to know what that feeling is, to actually miss, you can't miss something that you've never had.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

Then one day there is an event at her primary school and her mum, Maggie, attends.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

Other parents are coming, you know, father and mother. And I was just me.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

It's in this moment, watching her classmates, that a question forms in Kathy's mind.

[Kathy (Daughter)]

So after the event, when we went back home, we were eating and I just randomly popped the question. I was like, mom, how comes I

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

don't have a dad?

[Kathy (Daughter)]

Because everyone else has a dad in school and I don't.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

Kathy is growing up in a town called Nanuque in Kenya, East Africa, and she looks different to her classmates. Her skin is lighter, her hair is a different texture. Maggie says that when she was growing up, Nanuki was known as British Town. That's because it's home to an army base. And Kathy's mum tells her that her dad was a Soldier, A British soldier.

[Kathy (Daughter)]

She told me that he was deployed to Afghanistan. Was it Afghanistan? And I thought like, oh, he died in the war. I mean, we see movies all the time and many people die in movies.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

That's what I told her. Because, you know, she's young to understand. What could I have told her? I just told her, I think he's dead. That's what I answer very comfortably.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

Kathy struggles to imagine her dad. It's like peering through a kaleidoscope. Just as soon as an image crystallizes, it collapses. But one thing is clear. He was a soldier, a hero. When her friends ask her, she tells them readily, my dad was a soldier and he died in the army. This story becomes part of Kathy's story until she's 10.

[Kathy (Daughter)]

There's a time mum was like, don't go on Facebook, don't do this. And this and this. You cannot tell a child, don't do this and expect them to not do it. You will do it. You will do it.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

Kathy takes her mom's phone and starts scrolling through her Facebook account.

[Kathy (Daughter)]

And I was like, what's this? She's telling me not to scroll on, like it's just Facebook. So I start scrolling and scrolling and then all of a sudden I see someone with the same name as me. And I've never heard another name like mine.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

So I was like, all Kathy has left of her dad is his surname.

[Kathy (Daughter)]

I go up to her and I'm like, mom, like, mom, who's this? Why does he have my. She's like. At first she didn't know what to say.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

I was confused, like, what will I tell her?

[Kathy (Daughter)]

So she looks at the phone, I see her move her head back like she's trying to look properly or something.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

Then I was like, it's your dad.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

It's Kathy's dad, the soldier, the war hero. He's there smiling out of the screen very much, not dead. All the stories Kathy had told herself about him evaporate. Questions tumble through her mind. If he's alive, then where is he? Why did he leave? With her mum's encouragement, 10 year old Kathy opens a Facebook account and begins to write a message.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

She tried also to tell him, you know, I can't sleep because I'm thinking, where's my father? And it was a touching message because it made me cry when I read it.

[Kathy (Daughter)]

Yeah, she read it and she cried. I was like, mom, why are you crying? And she like, nothing. That's nothing. I'm like, that has to be something.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

You cry because now I I, I, you know, I now I knew how she was feeling. She told the father, you know, I've been told by my mom, you're a good person. Why? Yeah, what happened? You know, why did you leave me?

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

And then she hits send. There's nothing more she can do but wait for a reply. It's a weight that stretches from days to weeks and then to years. She feels completely isolated. But I've discovered she's far from alone. This moment, as she stares in disbelief at her dad's Facebook profile, is the beginning of a nine year quest to get answers. Her journey will put her on a path she never thought possible. It will bring her into contact with lawyers and DNA detectives from across the world. She'll discover that her story is part of a bigger pattern. One whose implications go to the very highest levels of power. This is World of Secrets Season 12 Searching for Soldier Dad A BBC World Service Investigation I'm Ivana Davidovich, a BBC journalist. For the past two years, I've been following a cutting edge project to locate absentee military fathers and expose a scandal that has hidden in plain sight for decades. Episode 1 Love Story. I first meet Maggie and her daughter Kathy in December 24 in their hometown of Nanyuki. We're getting into Nanyuki, right? We approach the town on a wide, dusty highway. It's at the base of Mount Kenya, Africa's second highest mountain. I can see the outline of its jagged snow capped peak through the clouds in the distance.

[Kathy (Daughter)]

That sign is like a tourist destination.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

To one side of the road is a big yellow sign. It's stained by traffic fumes and surrounded by people posing for photos. On the sign there's a black silhouette of the African continent telling us that we are bang on the equator. I might be able to for you, but I'm very far from equator.

[Kathy (Daughter)]

Oh yeah, that's true.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

So for me this is very exciting. As we drive into the center, shopping malls flank the road. Side streets bustle with market stalls piled high with vegetables. Motorcycle taxis are touting for business. We stop at a mall for lunch.

[Kathy (Daughter)]

I think we'll just have a sandwich.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

And suddenly I feel like I've stuck step out of Kenya. There is an American fast food chain where almost every customer is a British soldier, most in uniform. I'm struck by how young some of them look in their bulky military uniforms, eating fries out of paper bags and sipping from large soft drink cups. The fingerprints of the British military are all over this region. The army base outside of Nanuki is their biggest. In Africa, the British army set up training camps here after Kenya gained independence from the British in the 60s. It's known as Batuk, or the British Army Training Unit Kenya. And every year around 5,000 personnel pass through it. The combination of sandy and mountainous terrain is the perfect environment to train for combat overseas. With the troops comes money. Amidst the town's shopping malls, there are swanky looking restaurants, bars and clubs where I realized that spotting white men with often younger, glamorously dressed Kenyan women is a regular occurrence. But there's something else. A dark and dangerous underbelly.

[Narrator/Advertiser (Liberty Mutual and others)]

Kenya has launched a landmark inquiry against

[Podcast Narrator/Advertiser]

the Royal British army, decades of human

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

rights abuses and sexual abuses. While they trained in the country, Nanyuki has been at the center of scandal and political controversy. A former British soldier wanted by Kenyan authorities appeared in a London court after being arrested in connection with the alleged murder of Agnes Wanjuru. A Kenyan parliamentary committee recently accused British soldiers of decades of sexual abuse, killings, human rights violations and environmental destruction. They said that the British army was increasingly seen as an occupying presence. Our story unfolds against the backdrop of these allegations. When Kathy first found out her dad was alive, she was filled with questions. The first person she turned to was her mum, Maggie, who told her the story of their relationship.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

There's a building over there. So you see my things are happening.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

Maggie takes me back to the place where it all began. A restaurant on one of the main streets of Nanyuki. Maggie has long red hair and a nose ring. She looks younger than her 48 years. She laughs easily, but there is a sense of vulnerability. We climb up the stone steps and sit down on an upmarket whitewashed roof terrace as motorbikes whiz by on the street below. We're going to rewind to 2004, when this place had a different vibe.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

Here there was a pool table.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

Pool table, right. Maggie's 26. She's working at a hairdresser's just around the corner when at lunchtime, she comes to the restaurant with a friend on her break.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

And I was seated here in the counter. I was waiting for food with my friend.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

Even though Nanuki is nowhere near the center, sea is decked out like a beach bar with tiki style decor and Kenyan music blaring out of the speakers. Around the pool table, five white guys in military uniform stand cozied up with some Kenyan women. Although it's common to see soldiers from the British military base around town, Maggie has never spoken to one.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

Most of us who didn't interact with them, we are scared of them.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

Maggie says There is a divide among the women in Nanyuki.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

We used to call them prostitutes and they used to call us working class.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

The working class girls and the sex workers. These two groups would go to the same bars, live in the same areas, but they'd avoid each other.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

We are scared of them because, you know, prostitutes are rude, they are loud, they are drunkard. All the time. They will walk in town with the soldier, holding hands and no shame.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

Maggie says that Nanuki has a reputation

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

because of British army. Actually, this town have a bad name because of them.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

Maggie had learned not to tell people where she's from in case they assume she's a sex worker too.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

If you tell someone you're from Nanyuki, they'll be like, oh, that place where you go, you know, it's a lot of fun and British army and, you know.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

So sitting at the bar, Maggie doesn't pay the British soldiers much attention, but they are paying attention to her.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

They say, hey, you have a beautiful teeth, you know.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

Charming, yeah. Maggie finishes her lunch and is walking down the stone steps when one of the Kenyan women who was with the soldiers catches up with her.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

Hey, excuse me, there's someone asking for your number.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

She's wary, but also flattered. Maggie doesn't have a phone of her own, so gives her friend's number. That evening, her friend gets a call. She rushes around to Maggie's house. On the other end of the line is the voice of a British man. He says his name is Phil. He's not how she expected him to be. He seems shy and sweet and he asks when he can see her again. She's cautious, but there is something about his soft demeanor that makes her curious. So they arranged to meet back at the restaurant the following morning.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

We came upstairs, we talk.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

He's a few years older than Maggie, and she's struck by how handsome he is. He's tall with dark hair and a cheeky grin.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

And he promised me a lot of things, you know, I love the way you look, I love you, everything, like how men are, you know. And I was like, okay, every relationship start like that.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

But it's not just compliments that Phil gives her.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

Actually, he gave me 10,000.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

He hands over 10,000 Kenyan shillings in cash, or about 125 US dollars.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

That's when I was like, okay, wait,

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

can I just interrupt you? Did you think it was strange that you met him for the first time, basically one on one, and he offered you 10,000 straight away?

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

It was weird, but like, did he

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

think that you were A prostitute. I'm just sorry for me asking like that, but I don't know why he would offer.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

Yeah, that's why I told you he was not. He respected me. Like, he didn't. He didn't approach me, like. Approached you? Like, I want you. You know, he didn't even ask me about sex. Actually,

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

Maggie finds Phil charming. He's respectful. They get to know each other for weeks before they even discuss spending the night together. At first, they meet in the daytime. They talk, have lunch, play Paul. Maggie has a son, Raja, from a previous relationship. And Phil always asks after him and sometimes buys him gifts. Maggie says he makes Rafia like the center of his world.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

In my heart, I was like, he's mine. I'm his. Yeah. And he never looked, you know, like, we are sitting here and women walk around. He never. He used to sit, like, we used to sit like this, you know, locked.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

You know, when you're locked on someone like this. Right. There is no wandering eye.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

No.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

You feel like you're the center of the universe.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

Exactly. And he used to tell me that looking me at my eyes and say, you have a beautiful eyes. You know, I will never leave you. I love you so much. You know, you mean the world to me. Yeah.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

Maggie's mistrust falls away, and it's replaced by the exhilaration of falling in love. Her thoughts are so full of him that she can barely sleep, barely eat. While dating, Phil is regularly sent back to the UK or off on deployment, sometimes for months at a time. But when they are reunited, the feelings get stronger. And how did your relationship change then? Because you hadn't seen each other for six months? And then he's here again for three weeks.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

It's romantic, you know, like, hey, it was fun. I was like, oh, I'm the top of the world right now. You know, It's Romeo and Juliet. I will say so. I didn't doubt him. I didn't doubt him even an inch.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

A year after Maggie and Phil first meet, he is returning to Kenya from a deployment. She goes to meet him at the airport. As he pushes his luggage on a trolley through the barriers on the arrivals hall, their eyes meet. He walks straight towards her.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

He just kneeled down. I was like, God, you know, I was confused. What is this? I only see this in the movie.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

He looks up at her and he's holding a ring.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

He asked me, will you marry me?

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

At first, Maggie panics. She's not expecting this. They've only been together for a year. She runs out of the airport and jumps into a taxi to hide. Full of adrenaline, she explains to the driver, a total stranger, that her boyfriend, a white guy, has just asked her to marry him. She doesn't know what to do.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

He asked me, are you stupid? Are you running away from opportunity? Actually, that's the word he used.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

Maggie opens the taxi door, runs back into the airport and back to Phil.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

And I was like, okay. I was shaking, my legs were shaking. I was, you know, I was sweating, my hands were sweating. And he said, please say yes. And I was like, yes.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

Everyone around them starts cheering and clapping.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

It was, eh, it was nice. And we came home actually, that night. It's when I got pregnant.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

How do you know? Exactly.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

How do I know? You know, sometimes you. A woman knows.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

Maggie and Phil's fairy tale romance is complete. They're about to become a family. But as Maggie is about to find out, their happy ending is still out of reach.

[Narrator/Advertiser (Liberty Mutual and others)]

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[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

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[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

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[Podcast Narrator/Advertiser]

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[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

So this is where you lived?

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

I used to live, yeah. Let me show you my gate.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

Maggie has taken me to where she lived when she was engaged to Phil.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

The river is behind here. We could hear the sounds of the river when we are sleeping. It's like rain, Betty.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

It's peaceful. About a dozen bungalows in a U shape with driveways and neat gardens out the front. This is where Kathy was born. Being here, it's clear that Maggie had everything she could have. A fiance she loved, a house and garden to raise their children in. She had no reason to suspect that anything was amiss. Back in 2006. Phil is on deployment in Germany when Kathy is born. He's paying Maggie's rent and sending money every month for the baby. And he writes to Maggie regularly. I've seen some of the letters. They bear the British military stamp for each of the operations he's part of. They're romantic and heartfelt. And he always signs off, your hubby, Phil.

[James (Lawyer)]

As soon as we are married over in Kenya or in Britain, we can get a house. I will never meet another woman like you. This is very hard. I'm not interested in anyone else. But I won't lie to you. And I promise you that I'll always keep my word to you, Maggie. I will never cheat on. Mine is yours. And anything you want, you will have. I will break my own back to make you happy.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

When Kathy is seven months old, Phil is given leave and comes to meet his daughter for the first time. At this point, Maggie and Phil have not seen each other for over a year. Maggie collects him from Nairobi airport. When they drive up to the house, the nanny brings out Kathy, or Kate, as her mom calls her, in her arms.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

And he was very happy, actually. He used to hold Kate when we walk around. Kate was always in his hands.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

They'd go for lunch back at the restaurant where they met Kathy sitting on Phil's lap.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

Yeah, it was fun. It was a family. A royal family, right? Yeah, it was. And he was like, I can't wait to take this baby to my country. And everybody see my kid, you know, the sisters and the mother. And he was like, my baby is not going to get Kenyan passport. Not blue passport, it's a red passport, you know.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

With her head full of the promise of British passports for her and her child, Maggie starts dreaming of a life in the uk. She'll open her own restaurant and live as a family with Phil, Kathy and Roger. For four weeks, Phil stays with Maggie and Kathy. They love going on long walks with a baby in a sling. But it can't last forever. Phil has to return to his deployment. On his last day in Kenya, she drives him back to the airport.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

We cried, we hugged, we kissed and he was gone. And you know there's a bath window and it's like waving, right? Yeah, waving and you know, still crying. And he said, don't worry, I'll be back. But don't worry, I'll be back. Was worried. I will be back, you know.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

Maggie is worried. She has a feeling she can't shake.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

Something was telling me something would be wrong because sometimes you have your instincts that they say something.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

As soon as he lands, Phil messages. Everything is normal. They send messages back and forth.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

It's just like, I love you, I miss you, and I would like us to be together. I can't wait for us to get married, you know? Yeah.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

But Phil starts to take longer to respond before long weeks pass. Between phone calls, he start with delaying

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

of sending money, you know, and I have a kid and I'm like, hey, you know, it's due day to pay the rent and everything. And then he was like, wait, I'll do it, I'll do it and all. Then one day he was quiet. So that's when I started messaging him. I used to call him. The phone will ring until nobody would pick the phone. And then I would text, text after text, text after text, but no reply. But they were showing me they are delivered.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

Maggie is frantic. Has something happened to him? In desperation, she calls his mum. Phil's mum assures Maggie that he is alive. But she also says that her son is an adult and she can't force him to be in contact. Maggie's heart sinks.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

That's when I start now with Facebook. And then he will block me. I can't see him. I open another account, I text him, it will go through, then he will block me.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

This continues for five years. She keeps replaying every conversation they've ever had in her head and re reading the messages over and over, looking for clues as to why he left. She cannot forget him and can't let go. But she has to carry on.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

I had so many sleepless nights and I will wake up early in the morning to go to work, you know, I'll come home tired. There is my kids, you know, And I'm thinking they need to live, they need to survive, they need to go to school. So I think I will get back to my feet and Start taking care of my kids. And that's what I did.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

She runs a small kitchen inside a pub. Then she leases some land to farm vegetables, and for years she manages to keep things afloat. But by the time Kathy turns 15, their fortunes take a turn for the worse. Maggie's business suffers a shock. Cattle destroy her crops, and then she loses everything. After years of raising her two kids independently, it all starts falling apart. She has no safety net, no one to turn to, and she falls into serious debt. Her health is impacted by the stress, she loses weight, she can't pay the rent and is reduced to sofa surfing with friends and family. Her thoughts turn again to Phil. Where is he? She even tells her story to the Kenyan media, hoping they can track him down. But it makes no difference. Then, out of the blue, she gets a call from a young lawyer in Nanuki. Some Western scientists and lawyers are coming to town. His talking about DNA samples, databases, court cases is too much for Maggie to process. She worries it could be a scam, but she's desperate for answers for her and her daughter. The phone call ends and she takes a deep breath. Maybe it's worth one more shot.

[James (Lawyer)]

So you guys have all been waiting very patiently. I see you kids are waiting very patiently as well. So thank you so much for listening to us. Should we get started?

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

It's December 2024. About half a dozen Kenyan women are crowded into a hot room in the back of a cafe in Nanuki. They sit on plastic chairs, some with little kids on their laps.

[Kathy (Daughter)]

Is it okay if Jo just films

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

a bit of the intro? There's no camera, just the microphone. I'm here with my producer, Josephine. We're gathered to hear about a pioneering legal scheme that might transform the lives of these women and children.

[James (Lawyer)]

My name is James and I am a lawyer in London.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

On one side of the room is a fresh faced lawyer. He. He's tall and slim, a white guy with neat brown hair. He looks uncomfortably hot in his shirt and tie.

[James (Lawyer)]

And I represent children, young people and parents in international children cases.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

Next to him is an older white man in his 50s with ashy blonde hair. My name is Andrew McLeod.

[Narrator/Advertiser (Liberty Mutual and others)]

I'm an Australian and a British lawyer.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

I understand sometimes the Australian accent is very different. Difficult.

[Podcast Narrator/Advertiser]

So if there is anything you don't

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

understand, just tell me. Stop for a second. The women in the room sit listening intently.

[Narrator/Advertiser (Liberty Mutual and others)]

If we find the father, we can give the child a sense of identity of who mummy is and who daddy

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

is, so they can live their life

[Narrator/Advertiser (Liberty Mutual and others)]

knowing who they are.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

Each of Them has a child who they believe was fathered by a British soldier who they say is now failing to support them. The children here are mainly mixed race and their range of ages. But the lawyers believe this might be the tip of the iceberg, that in the decades that the British military has been stationed here, large numbers of children have been fathered by soldiers and in many cases abandoned. We'll get into exactly how the project will work later in the series. But on this day, the lawyers explain that they are looking for volunteers for a project where they will do something that no one else has attempted. This science is about finding the father. We know who the mother. They'll collect DNA samples and then use commercial DNA databases like Ancestry to track down the missing military fathers.

[James (Lawyer)]

I can't promise you we'll find them. I can promise you we work very,

[Narrator/Advertiser (Liberty Mutual and others)]

very hard for this.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

If they find the fathers, they will take them to court in the UK to establish their paternity.

[James (Lawyer)]

We will try as hard as we can. We will use every tool we can. We will go to court as much as we can. But there is no guarantee we will ever find the father or the fathers involved in these cases.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

There is an air of excitement, but also skepticism. There have been coming, lawyers have been

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

coming, people have been coming, asking us, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

One woman tells the lawyers that she wants to trust them, but they're not the first visitors who've come to them promising to help. In that stuffy room, everything feels very uncertain. No one has any idea if this process will find anyone's father. And for us, this feels like a gamble. We don't know where this will go or what, if anything, we'll have to publish at the end of it. No. Hi, I'm Josephine. Nice to meet you. We work at the BBC. We're journalists. We're making a program about. We rush around the cafe's outdoor seating area with our microphones trying to speak to everyone. So your boy now is eight, is that right? Yeah. What's his name? There are many stories. So you met on a dating site? From a one night stand to a week long fling in a hotel. And there are others. He even proposed to me.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

Gave me a ring.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

Yeah, he gave me a ring. Yes. Women who believed that they were in a committed relationship.

[Kathy (Daughter)]

Then we started to live together.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

We started to live together. One woman tells me she lived with her boyfriend and their son for three years before he went back to the UK for a holiday.

[Kathy (Daughter)]

Then I tried to call him, but his phone is stranger.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

After a Text saying he'd landed. He was never heard from again.

[Kathy (Daughter)]

All those years I struggled to live with my son.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

I can relate. I was a single mom myself in my early 20s. I know how difficult it can be, but my jaw drops at some of the hardships these families have endured. One woman tells me her son had cholera as they had no access to safe drinking water and she could barely afford to treat him. But this is about so much more than irresponsible dads and single moms. The fathers of these children could be considered representatives of the British state, a state that once ruled this country and whose legacy here is inescapable. And these children are often living in unimaginable circumstances, their mothers powerless to demand financial support. Hello, I'm Nancy.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

Nice to meet you.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

Ivana.

[Kathy (Daughter)]

Pleasure.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

I'll come in.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

What's your name?

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

On the second day of DNA testing, more mothers and their children arrive. And it's here that I first meet Maggie and Kathy. From the moment we first start talking, the warmth of their bond draws me in. We sit down to talk at a table outside among bamboo and tropical orange flowers. Kathy is tall and slim, with long braids, jeans and a white hoodie. I notice that Maggie is still wearing the engagement ring given to her by Kathy's father. Is it odd to you that your mum still wears your father's ring?

[Kathy (Daughter)]

Let's just say if I was in the position, I would have thrown it away a long time because it's a constant reminder of something that was to happen didn't happen to me.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

She's the reminder. I don't see Vereem.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

I see her now, 18. Kathy has just finished school, but she says she can't graduate until her mum pays $100 of outstanding fees, something they simply can't afford. But it's not just about the money. Kathy wants to know her father so she can know herself.

[Kathy (Daughter)]

I'm an insomniac, so I just lie down, look at the ceiling, and I'm like, if he was still here, this could have been my life. This could have happened. I would have been happy. I wouldn't have gone through depression. I wouldn't have done so many things. I'd just be happy. But then I look back, then I'm like, what if it's better that my mom raised me? She's taught me to be quite confident. She's taught me to be brave. She's taught me everything. She's taught me how to be myself,

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

you know, look at you.

[Maggie (Kathy's Mother)]

So much love. I had to make her My friend. So she doesn't think about the father. Yeah.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

As Kathy waits for her DNA sample to be taken, I can feel how torn she is about the possibility of getting to know her dad.

[Kathy (Daughter)]

But the curiosity of who is my father?

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

It's part of you, isn't it?

[Kathy (Daughter)]

Yeah.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

You can't escape it.

[Kathy (Daughter)]

I can't. It's in DNA. Literally. I can't escape it because something in me is like, get to know him, you know, Know your roots, know everything. And then there's some part of me which is like, he doesn't care. He was never here for you.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

Then it's time. You see this little stick swab on the end? I'm going to put it inside your mouth.

[Kathy (Daughter)]

That's fine. Okay.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

Kathy's taken off into a side room to have her sample taken. Makes your mouth a bit dry.

[Kathy (Daughter)]

And turn it over.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

And then we're going to go. A few drops of saliva with the power to change Kathy's life. This is the start of a story like no other. With exclusive access, we'll be following every step of this life changing process.

[James (Lawyer)]

What we're going to do, what we intend to do is speak to each one of you individually so that we can discuss the DNA results we've now had through.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

We'll try to track down the fathers of Kathy and others.

[Podcast Narrator/Advertiser]

It's hard to explain the joy that

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

you feel by holding another life in your hands that you've created with unpredictable consequences.

[James (Lawyer)]

Life. I cannot remember the last time I felt so flabbergasted or so floored.

[Ivana Davidovich (BBC Journalist/Narrator)]

And our quest for answers will take us to the heart of the British state. That's all coming up on this season of World of Secrets. This has been episode 1 of 5 of season 12 of World of Secrets. Searching for Soldier to dad from the BBC World Service. World of Secrets Searching for Soldier dad is a long form audio production for the BBC World Service. It's presented by me, Ivana Davidovich. The series is produced and written by Josephine Cassili. The series editor is Matt Willis. Our script advisor is Lucy Proctor. Sound design and mix by Tom Brignall. We would like as many people as possible to hear our investigations. So please leave a rating and a review and do tell others about World of Secrets.

[Narrator/Advertiser (Liberty Mutual and others)]

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