Haleigh had a dream last night that Aayush took 45 minutes to finish the mini crossword and then manifested that for herself by winning today (7-5). Chika was a little late to pick us up for church, but we did learn she went to culinary school! Church was long, with the pastor talking in the sermon for over an hour straight, but had lots of music and everyone is so happy! People were excited to see Haleigh and Aayush had come back, and that Mary was there as well. We’re marketed as the Indian, the Egyptian, and the American (or French if Aayush decides to intervene). Everyone at church loved our blog too! Mary received her complimentary first time gift of chvita (a popular juice here), and we made some new friends. Chika’s friend Kachi was trying to figure out food to cook us, but got stumped on Mary’s food preferences of no milk, peanut butter, yams, chocolate or spice.

After church, we took an Uber back to the HEI office, where we were supposed to meet Francis, one of our partners, to give our tailored clothes, but he was actually on the island. We were also supposed to go to the island today but turns out our radio show later wasn’t on the island and we may not have gotten back in time. Anyways, we took another Uber to the Ikeja mall, which was nicer than a lot of American malls. We determined that Ikeja is the capital of Lagos and Lagos is both a city and a state (like New York City and New York State). It was interesting to see the privately owned mall after being in the throes of the Yaba market.

Mary was very excited to eat her kfc at the food court, but they only had spicy chicken, so she and Chika split a margherita pizza from Pizza Hut. Haleigh and Aayush got traditional Nigerian food of yam porridge, some noodles and fried rice with chicken and vegetable soup with fish for Haleigh. Haleigh is very happy her spice tolerance is increasing and she can enjoy the food now, and Aayush called it the best meal he’s had in two weeks. We finished off the meal with a cinnamon roll for Aayush, coconut ice cream (with real bits of coconut) for Haleigh, and cotton candy ice cream with Oreos from Coldstone for Mary.

Then we headed to the City 105.1 FM radio station! We were a bit early but eventually the host came to talk about our programs so he could come up with questions to ask. Paschall was feeling under the weather so he couldn’t join us but Chika did an amazing job stepping in for him! The sentiment was the same from our last radio show, to spread awareness about our training and programming, except Haleigh actually talked this time and Mary and Aayush introduced themselves as well. We explained our mission, our collaboration, and how trainees can manage the scene of accidents. One caller said he had been stopped by police before and charged for services at the hospital, which is a common theme and why HEI is partnered with the Federal Road Safety Corps and government hospitals to provide immediate funds for post-crash care. We have also trained some police staff and distribute everyone a vest with the HEI, FRSC, and LFR logos so they can be identified as LFRs. Haleigh again got asked “what’s in it for you” by a caller, and also about where we get funding from. They were very impressed that we’re all volunteers. The host was also confused why Washington University in St. Louis isn’t in Washington state, and we agree.

After the show, the host was nice enough to drive us over half an hour back, with a brief stop for an errand, and even showed up local sights, like a shrine for Afrobeats, the Governor’s office, and the Lagos house of assembly for legislature! Another Uber took us to the tailor in another part of town, at a house where there were at least 3 tailors and everyone was confused on who was who. But we found them and ended up having to do the measurements for our clothes again but we’re very excited to see the final products and the tailor was super nice! Our Uber on the way back made “the most unholy sound”, according to Aayush, but we managed to get back without it breaking down. We again congregated for a late dinner to do responder interviews, during which Aayush put up with a shrieking baby in the background. Also one of the interviewees mentioned a radio show he heard earlier that day with Chika and some international guests and we were like “omg that was us!” which was very cool.

We’re very grateful to Chika who put up with us all day and will have to see us again tomorrow for trainings!

We’ve seen many cows roaming around the streets, and also a bunch of places for sports betting, which Aayush desperately wants to visit

Yes this is the same shirt Haleigh wore to church last week and yes she looks orange in this picture

Haleigh and Aayush got a couple shoutouts in the sermon!

Haleigh and Aayush are in an unspoken battle to catch pictures of each other napping and Haleigh is winning because she opens her eyes whenever Aayush tries to get a picture