Day 5

Guys we have so much blog content today, we’re so excited. Here’s your warning if it’s long to read. Haleigh went overboard on the pictures too. 

So because we posted the blog early yesterday, of course we had more shenanigans last night. We chose a contentious dominoes order of a veggie pizza  (not really though, we agreed on no olives and Aayush conceded for no green peppers, leaving just mushrooms and onions, although Aayush had wanted the sweet chili margherita but Haleigh is not doing a good job defying white stereotypes about spice). It didn’t give Haleigh an option to specify an American number on the website, so she just added a 1 in front of her phone number. It let us order no problem, although entering a credit card online didn’t work, but we chose the option to pay with a credit card in person. All was well and good until she went to track her order, and saw it included the 1 in front of her number, so that there were five numbers instead of the last four digits. The only way to track our order was with my phone number and no matter which way Haleigh entered it, it couldn’t find a valid order. No problem though, we would just call the restaurant and ask to change our number. However, without a Nigerian phone, we weren’t able to reach the restaurant despite multiple attempts. And even if we changed the phone number, they wouldn’t be able to reach the American phone number. So we decided to just wait outside starting 20 minutes after we ordered, with the false hope they would uphold their delivery within 30 minutes promise. 

After 45 minutes and multiple attempts to call again, we asked the security guard at the gate if we could use his phone to call the number, which he graciously agreed. However, halfway through the call, he ran out of air time (the equivalent of “minutes”), so we gave him money to buy some more, which, in retrospect, might have been too desperate for pizza we hadn’t even paid for yet, but we were determined. We spoke to the store, who said they would look into tracking our delivery. Another 15 more minutes and Aayush adding multiple cars he could have sworn was our delivery, Haleigh went inside to call the store with the front desk’s phone, as the security guard’s phone had stopped working for the moment. She talked to another staff member at the store, and after spelling her name for him 7 times, we promised to look into it. Meanwhile, the delivery driver had called us back on the phone outside, and the security guard described our location for him more. At least 10 calls and over an hour later, our delivery driver showed up on his motorcycle. He didn’t take credit cards, so Haleigh had to run upstairs to grab some Nigerian Naira, and gave a large delivery tip because he had no change. We also tipped the security guard that was so gracious to help us. Pizza in hand, we went to sit in the restaurant and hide in the corner so they didn’t get offended we ordered food. Aayush began counting the number of onion slices, demonstrating his ability to count to two. And we’re like 90% sure they forgot the red sauce. So it was essentially mushroom and cheese bread. We’ll see if we want to go through the whole ordeal of ordering again. Also Haleigh tripped up the stairs while going back up to our rooms which was fun for her. 

Also of note yesterday, Haleigh finished the New York Times mini crossword in 30 seconds and Aayush finished in 32 seconds. She claimed it was basically the same time but here she is mentioning it in the blog hehe. AND today Haleigh got it in 41 seconds and Aayush in a minute. #Haleighfakegate (Aayush is trying to get this hashtag off the ground)

However, Aayush won for the day when Haleigh forgot how to play tic tac toe, and for some reason put her second “o” in the same box she put the first one in?? And then she made a move that she thought she won and was all proud, just for Aayush to make the obvious winning move. She’s very confused why her brain doesn’t work and Aayush is questioning whether she’s ever played before. 

We’re on day 3 of business clothes (and day 2 of reusing business clothes). We had an early wake up time this morning to attend a conference with Paschal, and got to the office at 8 am. Only Mayowa and Vivian were there so far but they gave us tea, powdered milk and Nigerian bread, which was delicious. We had long conversations about how expensive fruit is in both Nigeria and the US, corruption in politics in Nigeria and how people vote for who they share a religion or tribe with, how many people desert Nigeria for the hope of a better life, the depreciation of the Naira and the increased cost of living in Lagos, how it takes 9 months to get a passport here, and how there are no lights on the streets at night which makes driving particularly dangerous. Haleigh also eagerly informed everyone that Taylor Swift has her new 1989 Taylor’s version coming out, which Aayush made fun of her for. Aayush wanted to take a headshot for his med school secondary application requesting a picture with a solid background, and he was all ready with his jacket and tie, only to find out his top button of his shirt had mysteriously fallen off. Stay tuned for our investigation into his missing button. Aayush has also been putting off taking his malaria pill until he eats, which is sometimes at 2 pm, but today he took it at an impressive 9:45 am, with prompting from Haleigh of course. 

Chika wanted us to shorten our interview questions for responders even more, so we cut a couple more and hopefully it’s under five minutes now and we can test those soon.

Pascal’s car broke down this morning (a different one than the brake troubles), so we took an Uber to our conference on Victoria island, which we determined is actually a peninsula because you can get back to the mainland completely on land. Anyways, we took a bridge to the island, and essentially watched the wealth appear before our eyes. There were large bike lanes on the road, which actually had traffic lines that people followed, at least more so than in Surulere and other places on the mainland. It was much more city-like, with tall and fancy buildings, and the conference was at a fancy hotel. 

The topic was Corporate Social Responsibility: Boosting Sustainability, Societal Impact and Return on Investment. Paschall had met the conference coordinator a few months earlier, and she loved our cause and agreed to make HEI a “sponsor” for free to increase awareness. All the other sponsors were corporations, like Toyota, and banks, so it was great to get this kind of exposure. 

It was scheduled to start with speeches at 10 am, but that was when they brought out breakfast. Haleigh opted for the beef empanada, Kilishi (Nigerian beef jerky), watermelon, pineapple, and a large cup of coffee, which were all very delicious. Everyone was very concerned that Aayush, our resident vegetarian, was not eating any food, so he finally got a cup of coffee to appease them. Haleigh would like to note she told him to bring snacks and he blatantly ignored her, but she forgave him enough to share some trail mix a few hours later. 

At 10:58 am, the MC declared it was now 10 am sharp and they were ready to begin which confused us but we were happy to get started. Most of the event consisted of talks by Nigerian officials about the importance of social interventions, particularly in the environment and healthcare. They presented a bunch of awards and called everyone to action. We have definitely expanded our business vibes with the networking we did afterwards. But we both thought networking here was much easier than in the US, everyone just comes up to you and gives you their card and you talk for 30 seconds about what great work you’re doing, thanked them, took a picture, and then the next person was there to talk to you. Kind of ideal tbh. Haleigh was also pulled up to the stage with Paschall to give a brief speech on the spot, and Paschall got his own medal! 

We also met a high school senior named Tariq, who wants to go to college in the United States and is very passionate about environmentalism, economics, and the arts. He recommended art museums to go to on the island, and told Haleigh her biomedical engineering major made her seem really smart and a girl boss. He then accurately remarked that she giggles at everything, but told her to smile for real in a picture when she was just smiling normally, so you win some, you lose some. He was very knowledgeable on American life and politics, telling us his favorite artists were Lana del ray and doja cat, and told Haleigh “girl be for real” when she said she listens more to individual songs rather than artists. However, Haleigh was jealous of his friend from Nigeria who moved to Nashville last year and got to see Taylor swift and Beyonce in concert. We also learned that Aayush looks like a little Drake, or at least five people at the concert he went to thought so. Anyways, Tariq is currently doing an internship on environmental conservation and talked to Paschall about getting involved in HEI as well - we were very impressed with his dedication and networking skills.

As we mentioned earlier, the division of wealth between such close geography here was striking to see. Tariq asked us what our perceptions of Nigeria were before arriving, and we were slightly embarrassed to admit the United States is very americentric and eurocentric, with not much education or media coverage on African life or issues. He agreed that he thought almost all Americans perceived all of Africa as poor and his American friends often questioned how he was able to afford cool items and elite schools. He admitted he was privileged and some people are very poor, but not everyone, and Nigeria really is a great country for him. This was just a very sharp contrast to all our work with the commercial vehicle drivers and HEI’s work for the people that can’t afford the equivalent of $1.30 USD in healthcare. Similarly, our Uber driver on the way back to Surulere engaged in an impassioned speech to Paschall about the “corrupt businessmen” that don’t have anyone’s interests at heart except their own, how you can completely change someone’s life with just the opportunity for education, and how he wished he could get his PhD or start a business but he was stuck here and couldn’t just invest all his savings for something that he said probably wouldn’t work. Just very interesting to see the juxtaposition and hopefully we can make a very small contribution by training more people in first aid and trauma care. 

Back at the office, Chika let us leave early to eat and rest, partially because Aayush looked like he might pass out from lack of food (don’t worry he’s completely fine and has agreed to bring snacks with him, but his slogan today was “underpromise and overdeliver” in regards to his breakfast endeavors, so we’ll see how that goes). Our first order of business in getting back to the hotel was to connect to the WiFi again, and our assumption was right, they had changed the password and didn’t tell us. But it’s working well now so fingers crossed. We both wanted to try something new at the hotel restaurant, so Aayush opted for jollof rice and plantains (which it seems will be his new go to meal), and Haleigh got basmati rice with chicken stew, which was also very spicy. Amber, who was in Uganda with her last year, has provided the recommendation to ask for “less spice” but we’ll see if her spice intolerance surpasses the embarrassment of doing that. But I guess she’s admitting it on the blog so…

We have to get up early for our 8 am trainings tomorrow morning (stay tuned for a description of why this one is different than usual and why we’re very excited!), so with apprehension Haleigh is going to post the blog earlier and hope nothing else happens.

Aayush looks ecstatic to be waiting for our pizza …. We should have taken this picture 45 minutes later and seen him then

Many of these people we train drive these rickshaws!

The expedition for our missing onions proving unsuccessful

Haleigh forced Mayowa and Aayush to take a picture in their adorable matching outfits

Aayush contemplating his life after Mayowa told us that small children can eat this entire loaf of bread in one sitting. We were very unsure but did eat a good 70% of it between the two of us. 

Mayowa put the whole packet of milk into Aayush’s cup, so 15 minutes after putting the tea bag in, he was still just stirring milk

Let’s all let Haleigh think this is kind of an artsy picture, definitely more city vibes on Victoria island

Aayush was granted worthy of the vital job of assembling the sign, and nobody would let Haleigh carry the sign. Aayush, as a feminist ally, let her carry the little pole things

Haleigh shows no manners and consumes this lovely beef jerky type thing with her bare hands while everyone else used toothpicks

The lovely sign we had at the conference!

There was Nigerian royalty, government officials, and important business people at the conference today! 

Aayush only found this pocket square 3 hours into the event, the audacity to walk around without it for that long smh

The scene of the crime

Would it have looked better if Haleigh tucked her button down shirt in? Yes. But she has her money/passport belt crossed under her shirt and tucked into her dress pants because even at this fancy hotel she is too type A and paranoid to leave it in her backpack that Aayush is watching for her so it would have looked too weird to tuck in

Haleigh was having a bad hair day so Aayush did everyone a favor and cut off the top of her head in the picture #actuallyjustabadphotographer

Guess whose paper is whose (hint: Aayush has a lot of school spirit, and takes very very insightful notes)