Nigeria Day 7
Coming at you live from Big Hard Facts! Okay maybe not but more details on that later. Today was a big day for the program. Zach and I went to the FRSC headquarters in Lagos this morning for our closing ceremony and to meet the Lagos Sector Commander for FRSC, the most influential commander in all the land. Commander Olusegun Ogungbemide was extremely kind and welcoming. After a very convincing proposal by Zach, he agreed to be one of the founding members of the First Responder Coalition of Nigeria - more details coming on that soon!
The entire HEI and FRSC team did such a wonderful job setting up the closing ceremony. They did such a great job recruiting media organizations - and as a journalism major myself it made me so happy that they were here for a positive news story! Zach and I conducted some interviews and presented the final data from the pilot study in Nigeria. We found that first responders increased their scores on their assessments from 35% to 75% as a result of our training, the highest increase ever recorded! Safe to say - our closing ceremony celebrated an end to a successful pilot study in Nigeria and the beginning of much more work in the coming years. Also, the jallof rice we had after the ceremony was the best we’ve tried in Nigeria, hands down. - Ashwin
I cannot begin to express how incredible today was. Like really and truly a surreal experience. We started the day by meeting with the Sector Commander for the FRSC, one of the most influential public safety officers in the country. In addition to being incredibly hospitable and kind, he was also incredibly passionate about the work their Corps was doing and so excited to be partnering with our team. Even though I felt a little starstruck sitting in his office, it was an incredible honor for him to thank us for coming to see him! Afterward we went downstairs to one of the most beautifully prepared venues I’ve seen for the pilot closing (and program launching) ceremony. We heard from many (many) key stakeholders and even did a live first responder scenario demonstration, where we asked audience to control me like a video game as I “responded” to Ashwin “motorcycle crash.” After our presentation, the Sector Commander took to the podium and committed in front of all the press (there were a lot of press there…it was only very intimidating) that they would be a founding member of our proposed First Responder Coalition of Nigeria. The press conference that followed felt like a fever dream, with press from just about every major TV news outlet there interviewing 5 people at once, but it was certainly a fun time.
From the FRSC headquarters we headed straight to Victoria Island to appear on Nigerias most listened to radio show, Hard Facts, with its incredible host Sandra. After meeting her for even a few minutes it was clear why millions of Nigerians listened to her show on 99.3 Nigeria Info. From singing “Staying Alive” during CPR to getting some much appreciated admiration when we took off our suit jackets for a bleeding control demonstration, the 90 minute show felt like only 5. It was easily one of the most fun media sessions I’ve ever had. If youre interested in watching the show, you can see it all HERE!
To avoid the rush hour traffic, we opted to have our final dinner on the island at a place very special to our friend Paschal, the club where he had his wedding nearly 20 years ago! We ate the most delicious goat Pepe soup (seriously Midwest step up your game with the bland food) and spent over two hours talking and having a wonderful time.
And by the time we were ready to dive home the traffic had magically disappeared! We capped the night off by having a beer with our amazing hotel staff that had been so kind to us (especially when our cards wouldn’t work and they had to take our word that we could get cash from the bank when it opened to pay for our room). So all in all it was a pretty great day. As much as I miss my own bed, I’ll be really sad to leave here and can’t wait to be back soon. -Zach