Doorstep Daughter

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BBC Radio 4 LW

Factual

How two very different families came together to raise a baby in 1990s Watford.

The warming story of how two very different families, one Muslim and one Christian, came together to raise a baby in 1990s Watford, forming ties that changed each other's lives.

BBC Radio 4 FM

Doorstep Daughter: Doubts and Deliberations

Doubts and Deliberations

BBC Radio 4 - Doorstep Daughter, Doubts and Deliberations

Two very different families join together to raise a baby - and change each others' lives.

A heart-warming story of two very different families - one Muslim, one Christian - coming together to raise a baby in 1990s Watford, forming ties that changed each other's lives.

Two families from very different backgrounds, one street and a baby on a doorstep. 

This series charts the story of how a young Christian couple came to entrust the care of their little daughter to a Muslim family that lived nearby in 1990s Watford. They were strangers but the couple - Peris Mbuthia and Martin Gitonga - needed help, as immigrants from Kenya working in low paid jobs with a child to support and no family to step in. They were struggling and their relationship was under strain. Early one morning, Martin left his flat with six month old Sandra zipped inside his jacket and handed her over to the Zafars across the road while he went to work at a warehouse. This arrival at the door was an event that changed the course of all their lives - that day the baby girl became the Zafars' Doorstep Daughter. And a special, enduring bond developed between Sandra and the Zafar’s daughter Saiqa. It is a story of faith, trust and love - a modern day telling of how it takes a village to raise a child. 

Episode 3 finds little Sandra now living at the heart of the Zafar household, heading home only for alternate weekends. It seems to suit everyone.  But then doubts creep in and critics of this unusual arrangement start to snipe from the sidelines. Is this the perfect situation after all?

Producer: Sally Chesworth
Sound: Richard Hannaford
Editor: Gail Champion
Exec Editor: Richard Knight

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