African Celebrities News
America Is All About Working & Paying Bills – Actress Urges Africans To Invest In Their Home Countries
The American System Is All About Working & Paying Bills – Actress Urges Africans To Invest In Their Home Countries
Fast rising cross over actress Haillie Sumney who decided to quit her nursing job in the USA and relocate to Africa for acting in this chat with Saturday Beats warned African entertainers to stop having reckless sex. Sumney also encouraged Africans to consider investing in their home countries instead of wasting away in the American Zombie system of working and paying bills.
Here is what she told Timileyin Akinkahunsi and Demola Olonilua
“Many African actors stand the risk of contracting Sexually Transmitted Diseases and HIV; I say this because African people can be very promiscuous and a lot of them do not believe in using condoms or using protection. They feel like they are ‘supermen’, and that HIV is not real.
“I have friends and I talk to them, especially my male friends and a lot of them say that they do not use protection because they do not like it and that is the only reason that they give. When you mention HIV, a lot of them act as if it does not exist. So I would say that a lot of them are susceptible to HIV and STDs.
“This is one of the reasons why I want to have a section for health on my television show; to educate the youth in a fun and laid back way. I also hope to have seminars, rallies and school visitations, where I would talk about these issues. It is a very big issue but we do not talk about it. We will go to hospitals; there are a lot of people dying of HIV. There are a lot of people that have HIV and do not even know that they are living with the virus because they have not tested themselves.
“As for me, I practise what I preach. My parents own a TV station in Ghana called Mission Africa TV and I will anchor a show there called, Vibe With Haillie, which is in the pipeline. It is a talk show that focuses on health-related topics, as I have that background. I would be giving health tips and discussing health issues as well as entertainment”.
Born to a Ghanaian mother and a French father, Sumney said though she loved her time as a nurse, she offered the course to please her parents.
“I offered to study nursing because of my parents. They did not really see my vision as an actress and initially, they wanted me to have a professional degree. I enjoyed nursing but it was not my true passion and when I got back home, I decided to chase my dream.
“I worked as a nurse for about two and a half years and I enjoyed taking care of people because I have a good heart. I worked at Riverside Hospital, which was not far from the university that I attended. I enjoyed the job, to be honest, but I felt it was not really my calling. I enjoyed it while it lasted,” she said.
While asked to compare Nigerian and Ghanaian men, she simply said, “If I am going to compare Ghanaian men with Nigerian men, it will depend on what I am looking for. If I want ‘wahala’, headache and no rest of mind, then I would choose a Nigerian man, however, if I want to be taken good care of, I would choose a Ghanaian man. Ghanaian men are very relaxed and sometimes they could be lazy. So, it depends on what I am looking for.”
The actress, who has been shuttling between the US, Ghana, and Nigeria, also advised Africans desperate to leave their countries in search of greener pastures abroad.
“I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth, though I lived abroad for a long time and that is the mentality that most people have. When people hear that you are based abroad, they think that you are rich but you should see the way people are struggling abroad. For me to leave nursing and return to Africa; if it was so good, then why would I have left?
“Even if you are making money, it is spent on paying bills. The American system is all about paying bills and that is why I tell people who want to relocate abroad that they should just go to school and return to Africa because it is very easy to make it here than there. I say that they have a ‘zombie’ system whereby you would work like a robot and keep paying bills; to me, you cannot excel that way,” she said.
Nifemi Brooklyn
February 2, 2019 at 12:40 AM
You are very right my sister but most of us Nigerians are afraid to come home. Ghana is not safe to strangers either. So how can we invest back home when our safety is not guaranteed
uzoma
February 2, 2019 at 4:35 PM
Nifemi I agree with you,
iron bar
February 2, 2019 at 1:07 AM
TRUTH AND HALF TRUTHS..OUR continent needs redemption or possibly a revolution.grass is not always green abroad and at the same time,THEIR system is still far better .justice is always served,when u work,u get paid,school dont go on asuu strike.tolls on highways goes towards road rehab,every one is entitled to emergency hosp visit and numerous things to mention.racism wont go away either..let our leaders fix their nations deviod of corruption and tribalism,then we move ahead.go read history on singapore,malaysia and how they emerged as a powerful country with no oil. we all have our diff. views and mindset .lets respect that.
Mon
February 2, 2019 at 7:41 AM
What is happening is hi-tech or you can call it 21st century slavery, it is difficult to unravel, the colonial masters are not willing to let Africans be.
Yes, they use the paid bills to run the system, but they built and still building their nations from wealth stolen from Africa, things will start to change or take a different turn if people like you will channel your energy talking about colonial masters stooges who are calling themselves African leaders, then it will start sinking to the masses to understand where the problems are…..however, i am still confident because life started from Africa and will definitely end here, God shall soon shake the Table and the African masses will start chasing all the criminals stooges away to take over what belongs to them.
DB
February 2, 2019 at 11:33 AM
Even if you invest in Africa, people who work for you will also be working and paying bills. It is a cycle of life. Work so you can pay your bills. You cant leave a functional system for a dysfunctional one and expect to make progress. It also depends on what you are looking for
uzoma
February 2, 2019 at 4:29 PM
Nothing can be far from the truth. But the bills you pay here are judiciously used to better the need of the citizenry. The tolls you pay on the road are used to maintain the roads and bridges and you see the sign on the road say “Your tax dollar at work”. Even states that don’t have road tolls, their roads are even better maintained. There are mechanisms installed at toll gates to know how much was collected and how many vehicles passed.
In our country Nigeria, the money will be shared between the “Ogas” and the judges and police to sweep the stealing under the rug. Case closed.
uzoma
February 2, 2019 at 5:45 PM
You said the truth Ms.Haillie but like Nifemi pointed out how can we in diaspora come back to invest when safety is not guaranteed? The bills you pay here are used to better the welfare of the citizens. The light bill is used to make sure there is constant electricity, the water bill to make sure water runs constantly, tolls you pay at toll gates used to maintain the roads and bridges, even the states that don’t collect tolls maintain their roads. Property tax is used to make sure hospitals are of world class with needed equipment, EMT’s ambulances are well equipped. Nigerian leaders come here to buy properties, treat themselves in hospitals, enjoy the good roads, train and bus rides but when they go back home it is business as usual- stealing galore. No roads, no water, no electricity upon the trillions spent so far for light. Install toll gates on Nigeria roads and the money collected with go into private hands and the palms of the police and judges will be greased and the case is closed. The citizens are partly to blame too. If not how come thieves and armed robbers are celebrated? some politicians will go to prison both in Nigeria and overseas and when they are released after serving their time, their people will throw a big party to welcome them home. The voters do not vote on merit but on tribe and religion. Some tribes will gang up to deny the other tribe presidency even when they know that something good will come from that person. Come back to safety issues. The most recent one is the woman that returned from London after 35 years to set up a hotel business in Lagos, hired workers, pay them good money but lost millions of Naira due to pilfering and the culprits were caught and fired, they connived with current workers their to kill the manager and the hotel owner. Who can you trust then? People will say they are looking for job and when you hire them they steal you out of existence. I know a lot of people who have relocated back to Nigeria but have to run back to US after they are duped and their lives threatened, one of them is my mate now living in Florida. Our politicians are busy killing each other to be at the state house or Abuja because they know how much they will steal. Some of them are into ritualism, cultism armed robbery, kidnapping etc. The police is busy collecting bribes on the road even the army has joined them. You go back to Nigeria to help change how things are done and people working with you will tell you “make you no come put sand for our garri, if you want change things make you go back overseas”. This happened to a friend of mine, a PhD holder in clinical psychology. He had to come back to his professorship job in one of the southern states.
Jide
February 2, 2019 at 7:12 PM
On point @ Uzoma.Kudos
Nik
February 3, 2019 at 5:31 AM
Come and invest in Africa? I guess you are very young and you probably took your intellectual property i.e yourself to Africa to invest. If you are going back to Africa to invest your hard earned cash, then I will strongly tell you to watch your steps especially in Nigeria where every business effort is met with frustrations and losses. Ask me, i will tell you how much I lost in Africa.
And I will rather work and pay bills for what I used in a functional society like USA than for me to have the cash and no petrol in Nigeria, than for me to have a good car and no good road, than for me to have gates and security man due to acute insecurity.
Do you really know what you are talking about child? We are talking about the quality of life you live and not the affluence!
Rosy
February 4, 2019 at 4:51 PM
Well said fine actress. truth is bitter. Nigerians should learn how to invest in their country and stop flying anyhow to countries.