South African actress Sophie Ndaba, says she was subject to abuse by her sister’s husband while she was living at his farm in Harare, Zimbabwe when she was growing up.
Ndaba, who has Zimbabwean roots, revealed in an interview that she had been dispatched to Zimbabwe when her family started experiencing financial problems.
When Ndaba was eight, her mother, who was the family’s sole breadwinner as she struggled with a liver ailment, sent her to live in Harare with her older sister who was already married with kids.
According to Ndaba, the sister’s husband used to inappropriately touch and kiss her.
“That man was ‘touchy feely’. I remember my grandmother saying, ‘Don’t allow men to touch or kiss you. They must greet you and move. Every time he said goodnight, he kissed me and put his tongue in my mouth,” Ndaba said.
Ndaba revealed that she was later sent to foster care were she was subjected to more inhumane behavior.
“About a month after I was there, that lady said kids don’t sleep in bedrooms, they sleep outside. Me and the other two foster kids slept outside on a concrete floor, bathed in cold water, [and] never had lunch.”
Ndaba explained that this family was very rich, and their cruel acts confused her at the time.
“She was keeping up with appearances. She wanted people to know that she had a family. It was also to keep the husband because she could not have kids of her own,” she said.
