Ronke Ojo-Anthony, a renowned Nigerian movie actress who is better known as Ronke Oshodi-Oke has disclosed how she had to start working early in her life to support her family.
She stated that she began to act as a mother at a tender age.
Speaking in a recent interview, she delved into the story of her formative years, noting that she was forced to grow up fast. As the first child of her parents, it became her duty to join her father in supporting her family. She worked at Tincan Island where her father used to work to assist him because he had problems with the Nigerian Customs.
She said, “Before I went to acting, I used to work in Tincan Island then. My father had problems with Customs, where he used to work. But because I’m the firstborn of my family, I started working early, you understand. I grew up so early. I started working, I started doing certain things and to God be the glory, here we are today.”
The actress noted that her father was unable to get out of his issue with Customs before he died. So she carried the mantle and continued to work to support her siblings and according to her, the journey was difficult. As a result of this, she was unable to go back to school to further her education.
In her words, “It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t easy at all. There’s a Yoruba proverb that says, ‘Oshi o ni kan baba, ko kan Iya, ko ma dara omo”, meaning a problem cannot affect the father, affect the mother and not affect the child. It wasn’t easy. And being the firstborn of the family, you have to support your family, you have to support your siblings and stuff like that, so it wasn’t easy. My father never came out of the issue before he died. That was why I could not further my education”.