If You Have To Make A Point About The Situation Of Children In Your Country, What Would You Say?
I come from a very large family, and we all have been privileged to experience the joy of growing up as children and into adulthood. And that is a right, that it seems, is being taken away from some of these children out there, especially, those in the north of the country.
The messed up part is that, children only have a time in their lives that they can actually speak up for themselves, and you know, claim their rights, and do what they want, and that is, when they hit the age of eighteen. Until then, their lives are usually being controlled by parents, guardians, school teachers … anyone who is older than you, will tell you what to do. And that is the joy, I must say honestly, you are taking away from lives of these children – they will never be adults, because even before they even have the rights to speak, they are propped up , and married up.
For starters, let girls grow up to become women and even make a choice, of what they want. Even if you are going to arrange their marriages, at least, get them to the point, where they know who they are, as a human being, as a woman discovers, for themselves. I mean, they can be able to fight for themselves, when they are being abused in their homes, when it comes to that.
It is important that, we do not set ourselves back, a 100 years. We have fought as women, as African women, you know, to get to where we are.
As A Girl, Were You Scared Of Such Issues As Early Child Marriage?
I had my kid at a very early age, and if this is something that stood, I would have been married of by now, I obviously, probably would have grand children. But that didn’t happen basically, because I was given that chance, that is why, there is, ‘A Genevieve Today’. And, I am forever grateful, that this didn’t happen in my era. And knowing what life I have, and how much I have been able to accomplish, it breaks my heart, to know that, you are probably ending the life of the possibility of someone who is probably going to have the cure for, ‘Cancer’, right now because she is married off.
How Can You Use Your Influence For The Benefit Of Society?
There is always so much that you can do, as an individual. I am not a politician, unfortunately. I am an Artist, and what I do, is entertain. But, I only have my body, to tell a story, and myself as a human being. At the end of the day, I am the brand, so I am going to use this brand to express myself in the most honest way as I can. I want to believe that as a woman, and I stand as an example, of a strong woman for these up-and-coming women. I think, it is important that children, especially women, who do not have a future or who do not have hope for a future, to look and see that all is not lost. Genevieve came from nothing, and here she is, she is something today. So, I want my life as a testimony to theirs. I only thing that I can do, is to continue to succeed as much as I can, continue to push the envelope, continue to say, ‘You know what? One person is enough’
Do You See Yourself As An Example For Other Women As Having Succeeded, Doing Always What You Have Dreamed Of Doing?
I can only lend my voice, and speak up as I am speaking right now, and if you are a respecter of who I am, you should understand that these affect each and every one of us as citizens in this country.
If we love this country as much as we claim, I suppose we will do more for this country and less for ourselves.
On The Film,’HALF OF A YELLOW SUN’, Genevieve captures it this way:
Half Of A Yellow Sun is actually based on a booked. Half Of A Yellow Sun is written by Chimamanda Ngozi, an award writer, and she is a Nigerian, and is actually based on the Biafra war, which happened in Nigeria. It is a Nigerian story, and I am proud that it was shot in Nigeria as well. You know what? I learnt a lot about the past, from the present movie that I did. It is based on a book, and I knew about the film before I read the book. And when I read the book, and then, I learnt a lot about our struggles in the east. I am from the east, and we are called the Igbo tribe. We were greatly involved in the war. And so, you do realize that, there were a lot of restriction then, which are not now, as children, we weren’t thought, that is, our parents tried to shield us from the truth that they faced. I think, it is good that it is a good thing, if we knew a bit about our history. Hopefully, that will be cultivated into the school system. As you know, we Africans, black Africans, we are extremely dramatic and so, we tell our stories in a dramatic way, and it is amazing that, almost every African, can identify with that. I have learnt a lot of things that I can do, a lot of expressions that I can actually bring out, I see that there is extreme rage, that I didn’t know that I even had. Because, the script said, ‘Get angry’, and I did really really got angry.
Talking About A Phone Call From Oprah Winfrey, Genevieve remarks on it this way: It’s just funny how things don’t dawn on me, until after they happen. I was like, it’s ok, but, ‘How does Oprah know about me? Who told her? What does she know?’ I was hit by all kinds of questions. Yes, I felt extremely fortunate about it.
When asked about the attitude of Nigerians towards celebrities, she said: They are a prime people. Well, they will mind your business, even if you are not a celebrity, and so imagine if you were. I think, they are easy on men, because they say, ‘It is a man’s world’, and that is true, to an extent. But I realize that, things won’t change if we don’t come together as one people, and that is impossible, if you don’t do your bit as an individual, to make a difference in somebody else’s life.
And I as a person, took it upon myself to start a foundation, to help the girl child, help people, especially some less privileged children, female children, between the ages of 18 and 24, help find their footing in the world, just because it is difficult for women, sometimes.
MINI-BIOGRAPHY: Genevieve Nnaji, is a Nigerian actress and singer. In 2005 she won the Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Nnaji was born in Mbaise, Imo State, Nigeria but grew up in Lagos, the fourth of eight children and was brought up in a middle class environment. Her father worked as an engineer and her mother as a nursery teacher. She attended Methodist Girls College (Yaba, Lagos), before transferring into the University of Lagos. While at the university, she began auditioning for acting jobs amongst the many Nollywood projects. Genevieve Nnaji has frequently been hailed as Africa’s own answer to the likes of Julia Roberts, Reese Witherspoon and the rest of the feminine Hollywood stars. She started out in her acting career over 24 years ago, at the age of 8, playing a supporting role in a Nigerian TV series. Today, she is arguably Africa’s most revered actress and the poster girl for Nollywood- Nigeria’s burgeoning movie industry. The Nollywood diva has become one of Africa’s most recognizable faces, and has featured in over 80 successful Nigerian blockbusters.
CREDITS:
George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight: http://www.cbc.ca/strombo/
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genevieve_Nnaji
Forbes.com: http://www.forbes.com/pictures/ehed45mef/genevieve-nnaji-32-nigerian-actress/
Breaking News With UNICEF: http://www.unicef.org/media/media_71785.html
Editor’s note: Do you know of another outstanding story and or a lifestyle of a daughter of Africa, that ‘mustered‘ courage, to positively change the world around her, the MusteredLady.com would like to hear from you. Contact us through this link: http://musteredlady.com/contact/
Genevieve Nnaji - I STAND AS AN EXAMPLE FOR THE UP AND COMING YOUNG ONES
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