What makes a man?

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 Or you can contact the team via WhatsApp on +44 800 030 4404.

You can listen to What makes a man? online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

What makes a man? is an episode from Dear Daughter by BBC.

This episode is 18:47 long.

This episode was published on Mar 27, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Dear Daughter when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.