Sophie Ndaba, an actress and businesswoman who is best known for portraying Queen Moroka on Generations, recently spoke with Relebogile Mabotja about her turbulent upbringing and professional journey. According to Ndaba, her father had one kidney and was quite sick when she was very little.
The family was struggling financially, and her mother was the primary provider. Her granddad was from Zimbabwe, she noted. Her mother moved her to live in Harare with her older sister, who was already married and had children, when she was eight years old.
“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.
She explained that the lessons her grandmother had taught her were crucial in helping her navigate the situation and escape safely, preventing the man from escalating his inappropriate behavior.
Her problems didn’t end there. She was placed in a children’s home and later fostered by a rich couple who, she said, treated her badly.
“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,”
Sophie Ndaba shared the painful experience of being placed in a foster home with a wealthy couple who, despite their wealth, treated her horribly. “This family was very rich, and their cruel acts confused me at the time,” Ndaba recalled. She explained that her foster mother’s behavior was driven by a need to maintain appearances. “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,” Ndaba said.
Things took a turn when her father visited her the following Christmas and noticed how much weight she had lost. Although Ndaba initially lied, saying it was due to playing sports, her father saw past the facade and rescued her from the toxic environment. “He saw beneath the lies and rescued me,” she said.
Ndaba’s life changed for the better when another family, wealthy and kind-hearted, took her in. “They didn’t need money, they weren’t asking for money,” she explained. “They just thought, ’We’ve got my brother’s child here, my sister’s child here, my cousin’s here. It’s a big house and they had daughters my age… so it was, ‘She will be our daughter.’” This loving family took care of her, enrolled her in school, and paid for her education.
Not only did they provide a safe home, but they also taught her valuable lessons about business. “With time, they taught me business,” Ndaba said. “That’s where my interest in wedding planning, eventing, and even chefing started from because they had many stores.” This exposure to business would lay the foundation for Ndaba’s future entrepreneurial success.
