Skeem Saam actress Innocent Sadiki who plays the role of Sthoko on the popular drama series has revealed that being a positive influence to women is part of her purpose in life.

Playing a woman who is the victim of abuse on-screen has taught Innocent the importance of well-known personalities using their platforms wisely. 

She told TshisaLIVE that since playing abused Sthoko‚ more women have been willing to listen.

"As a woman with a platform‚ I will take any opportunity to spread the message of the seriousness of abuse in its various forms. The issue is close to my heart‚ because I am a woman and it’s difficult for me to even imagine how abuse could be someone’s reality. So even as a pastor’s wife the more awareness I can bring to the issue the better."

Earlier this year‚ Innocent told TshisaLIVE that since playing the role of Sthoko‚ whose husband has been abusing her‚ she's had to be a  confidant to complete strangers who flooded her DMs with their survival stories.

"I get messages of women saying I went through the same thing (Sthoko - her character) is going through and how they were lucky enough to make it. Others stories are scarier: Some women have shown their scars and bruises while others were burnt and poisoned by their partners... some are even disabled as a result. They relate to Sthoko and that is what pushes me to help teach someone about abuse‚" she said.

The actress said she didn't take for granted the opportunity to speak to women and men.

"The blessing of playing a character such as Sthoko‚ is that it makes me more credible when I speak to women in my personal capacity. As a pastor’s wife I am blessed in that I get a platform to speak to women to say‚ get out of that toxic relationship or to the men to say do better by your women and children‚ don’t hurt them."