Content creator and social media influencer Honour Zuma, popularly known as Cyan Boujee, shared more details about the Alabuga Start programme.
Cyan was among the influencers that promoted the Russian programme and received public backlash. This comes after the Department of International Relations & Co-operation (Dirco) issued an alert about jobs promoted on social media, citing the dangers of human trafficking and slave-like conditions abroad.
The social media sensation had travelled to Russia to learn more about the programme. She shared her concerns about the girls she met in Russia. Taking to her YouTube channel, she said: “More than anything, I’m worried about the kids. I’m worried so much about the kids because when I interviewed them most of them were not happy, especially with the answers they had to give on camera.”
Cyan revealed that there were things that made her uncomfortable while they were filming the promotional video, including that the girls were smoking while filming.
“When I asked one of them how things were going, if she was happy with her accommodation and if her roommates were being nice to her, she just cried. I was in disbelief because she was not happy. We had to wait for so long for her to calm down so she could lie and say everything was good. I told them that if they were going to work with other influencers, they had to be legit.
“I hope this is really legit because some of the questions I had to ask were ‘is it true that when you have a disease or fall pregnant you are kicked out, you have to book for your own flight?’ So they had to say ‘no’ but apparently it’s really true. I’m so frustrated. But I hope everything will be OK with time,” she said.
Also see: South African influencers share their side of the story on bogus Russian jobs
