Searching for Soldier Dad: Ep 1. Love story

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1:28Hi, I'm Ivana Davidovich, the host of the latest season of World of Secrets, the BBC's Global Investigations podcast. I thought you might like to listen to Searching for Soldier Dad, a series that tells you the story of DNA detectives tracking down the British soldiers who fathered children in Kenya and then disappeared. The mothers and children were left without support. We joined the quest for justice. Here's episode one. To hear more, search World of Secrets wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

2:03When Kathleen is a little kid, she sees what's there and barely notices what's absent. Her mum is the centre of her world. The thought of a dad doesn't even cross her mind.

2:16Ivana Davidovic: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. Then one day, there is an event at her primary school, and her mum Maggie attends. Other parents are coming, you know, father and mother, and that was just me. It's in this moment, watching her classmates, that a question forms in Cathy's mind. So after the event, when we went back home, we were eating and I just randomly popped the question. I was like, Mum, how come I don't have a dad? because everyone else has a dad in school and I don't.

2:57Cathy is growing up in a town called Nanuki 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 Cathy's mum tells her that her dad was a soldier. a British soldier.

3:23Ivana Davidovic: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. 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. Cathy struggles to imagine her dad. It's like peering through a kaleidoscope. Just as soon as an image crystallises, 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.

4:07This story becomes part of Cathy's story until she's ten.

4:12Ivana Davidovic: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. Cathy takes her mum's phone and starts scrolling through her Facebook account. 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. And so I was like... All Cathy has left of her dad is his surname. I go up to her and I'm like, Mum, like, Mum, who's this?

4:56Ivana Davidovic:Why does he have my name? And she's like... At first, she didn't know what to say. Yeah, I was confused. Like, what will I tell her? So she looks at the phone. I see her move her head back. Like, she's trying to look properly or something. And I was like, it's your dad. It's Cathy's dad, the soldier, the war hero. He's there, smiling out of the screen, very much not dead. All the stories Cathy 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 Cathy opens a Facebook account and begins to write a message.

5:46She tried also to tell him, you know, I can't sleep because I'm thinking, where's my father? It was a touching message because it made me cry when I read it.

5:55Ivana Davidovic:Yeah, she read it and she cried. I was like, Mum, why are you crying? And she's like, nothing, it's nothing. I'm like, that has to be something, you're crying. Because now I, you know, now I knew how she was feeling. she told the father, you know, I've been told by my mum, you're a good person. Why? What happened? You know, why did you leave me? And then she hits send. There's nothing more she can do but wait for a reply. It's a wait 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.

6:45Her 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 Davidovic, 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.

7:47I first meet Maggie and her daughter Cathy in December 24 in their hometown of Nanuki. We're getting into Nanuki, 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.

8:11Ivana Davidovic:That sign is like a tourist destination. 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're bang on the equator. It might be every day for you, but I'm very far from equator. So for me, this is very exciting. As we drive into the centre, 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. I think we should have a sandwich. And suddenly, I feel like I've stepped out of Kenya.

8:59There's 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.

9:40The 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 realise 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. Kenya has launched a landmark inquiry against the Royal British Army. Decades of human rights abuses and sexual abuses while they trained in the country. Nanyuki has been at the centre of scandal and political controversy.

10:24A former British soldier wanted by Kenyan authorities appeared in a London court after being arrested in connection with the alleged murder of Agnes... 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.

10:58When Cathy 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. There's a building over there. Yeah, yeah. So you see my things are happening. Maggie takes me back to the place where it all began, a restaurant on one of the main streets of Nanuki. 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.

11:35We 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

11:53Maggie'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 And I was seated here in the counter, I was waiting for food with my friend Even though Nanuki is nowhere near the 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 cosied 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. Most of us who didn't interact with them, we were scared of them.

12:34Maggie says there is a divide among the women in Nanyuki. We used to call them prostitutes and they used to call us working class. 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. We were scared of them because, you know, prostitutes are rude. They are loud, they are drunk all the time. They would walk in town with the soldier holding hands and no shame. Maggie says that Nanuki has a reputation. Because of British army, actually this town have a bad name because of them. Maggie had learned not to tell people where she's from in case they assume she's a sex worker too.

13:13If 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. So, sitting at the bar, Maggie doesn't pay the British soldiers much attention. But they are paying attention to her. They say, hey, you have beautiful teeth, you know. Charming. Yeah.

13:36Maggie 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. Hey, excuse me. Is someone asking for your number? 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 demeanour that makes her curious.

14:19So they arrange to meet back at the restaurant the following morning. We came upstairs, we talked. 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. And he promised me a lot of things, you know. I love the way you look, I love everything, like how men are. And I was like, OK, every relationship starts like that. But it's not just compliments that Phil gives her. Actually, he gave me 10 ,000. He hands over 10 ,000 Kenyan shillings in cash, or about 125 US dollars. That's when I was like, OK. Wait, 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?

15:05It was weird, but, like... Did he think that you were a prostitute? I'm just sorry for me asking like that, but I don't know why he would offer you. Yeah, that's why I told you he respected me. Like, he didn't approach me like a prostitute, like a one-two... You know, he didn't even ask me about sex, actually. 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 pool. Maggie has a son, Raja, from a previous relationship. And Phil always asks after him and sometimes buys him gifts.

15:47Maggie says he makes her feel like the centre of his world. In my heart, I was like, he's mine, I'm his. 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 Locked, you know when you're locked on someone like this, right? There is no wandering eye, you feel like you're the centre of the universe. Exactly and he used to tell me that, looking me at my eyes and say, you have beautiful eyes you know, I will never leave you, I love you so much you know, you mean the world to me yeah 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

16:39While 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 it's romantic you know like hey it was fun I was like oh I'm at the top of the world right now you know it's Romeo and Juliet I would say so I didn't doubt him I didn't doubt him even an inch

17:22A 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. He just kneeled down. I was like, God. You know, I was confused. What is this? I only see this in the movie. He looks up at her and he's holding a ring. He asks me, will you marry me? 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.

18:11She doesn't know what to do. He asked me, are you stupid? Are you running away from opportunity? Actually, that's the word he used. Maggie opens the taxi door, runs back into the airport and back to Phil. And I was like, OK. I was shaking, my legs were shaking, I was sweating, my hands were sweating. And he said, please say yes. And I was like, yes. Everyone around them starts cheering and clapping. It was, hey, it was nice. And we came home, actually that night, it's when I got pregnant. How do you know exactly? How do I know? You know, sometimes a woman knows. Maggie and Phil's fairy tale romance is complete.

18:59They're about to become a family. But, as Maggie is about to find out, their happy ending is still out of reach.

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20:53So this is where you lived? I used to live, yeah. Let me show you my gates. Maggie has taken me to where she lived when she was engaged to fill. The river is behind here. We could hear the sounds of the river when we were sleeping. It's like rain. It's peaceful. About a dozen bungalows in a U-shape, with driveways and neat gardens out the front.

21:19This is where Cathy was born. Being here, it's clear that Maggie had everything she could have wanted. a fiancé she loved, a house and garden to raise their children in. She had no reason to suspect that anything was amiss.

21:38Back in 2006, Phil is on deployment in Germany when Cathy 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. 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 you. I won't lie to you. And I promise you that I'll always keep my word to you, Maggie.

22:17I will never cheat on us. Mine is yours and anything you want, you will have. I will break my own back to make you happy.

22:30When Cathy 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 Cathy, or Kate as her mum calls her, in her arms. and he was very happy. Actually, he used to hold Kate when we walked around. Kate was always in his hands. They'd go for lunch back at the restaurant where they met, Cathy sitting on Phil's lap. Yeah, it was fun. It was a family. A real 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.

23:16And he was like, my baby's not going to get Kenyan passport, no blue passport, it's a red passport. 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.