Omofolabo Ajayi-Soyinka, Efugbaike Ajayi, Eniola Ajayi, and Toluwalase Ajayi

[00:02] OMOFOLABO AJAYI-SOYINKA: My name is Omo Folabo Ajayi Shoyenka. I'm mother to Uc, eni, and Lashe. Today is June 19, Saturday, June 19, 2021, and I'm in Lawrence, Kansas.

[00:29] EFUGBAIKE AJAYI, ENIOLA AJAYI, TOLUWALASE AJAYI: All right. My name is Efungba ake Adjai. Today is Saturday, June 19, 2021. I'm in Seller Spring, Maryland, and I'm here with my siblings and my mother.

[00:43] OMOFOLABO AJAYI-SOYINKA: My name is Toluwalasheh Jayi. Today is Saturday, June 19, Juneteenth first day. It's been readily recognized as a holiday. I'm in San Diego, and I'm here with my sisters and my mama. Well, my name is Aniola Jayi. I am 42 years old. Today is Saturday, June 19, 2021, and I am located in Liberty, Missouri. And I am here with my two sisters and my mom. So we brought my mom up here because she is awesome. She is incredible. She has lived a well, well lived life, and she has touched many, many people. And I know when we did her 70th birthdays, just the stories people were telling about her. And I had my kids interview her in secret for her birthday presentation. And we just thought it would just be neat to just get her story on here. So that's why we're here. So today is Saturday, June 19. That means that tomorrow is Sunday, June 20, which is father's day. And I know we lost our dad, your husband, Akinwomi Ajayi, 16 years ago. About 16 years ago. And so I am always talking to the kids about him and just, you know, trying to get them a glimpse of him through me and just, you know, because they're always asking questions because they never met him. And so just want you to just talk a little bit about dad. Tell us, like, how you two met, because I know he was not your typical nigerian. And so what drew you to dad, and what did your family think about him? Huh? Dad? Yeah, dad. My husband, Akinwumi Idu Ajayi. We met at the university, University of Ife Ileife in Nigeria. When we were students, we got on very well. I always say that he is the only nigerian man that can tolerate me and the only nigerian man I can tolerate. And I liked him because he allowed me to be myself. He liked my independence. He liked my activism. He did his own thing. I did my own thing. But we were very close, and he was a good listener. And also, as it turned out, to be, a very good father. When I introduced him to, I think, to my mom first, I mean, my mom just took to him straight away. If my mom didn't have any sons. I would say she was longing for his son because they were so close. They would just leave me aside and the two of them would go talking and telling stories and so on. And all my siblings also liked him, even including one of my sisters who really wanted to match make me for. With his friend. With her friend, you know. But your dad was very likable, down to earth, jovial, fun, and, you know, just a very nice person. I know. Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. I know I miss some. Like I said, it's been 16 years, but there are days where it seems like it was just yesterday. Like right now I'm tearing up, but there are days where it just seems like it was just yesterday. So I know this was not on the question list, but how are you feeling now about him and just like, him not being here and sharing your life? It's a bit tough. And I think the way I sort of dealt with it and I'm still dealing with it, it's just throw myself in work. And since I retired, it's even been more, been more pronounced. And I think I throw myself even in more work and I think I'm overdoing that. But anyway, I listened to records we enjoyed together. Oh, yeah, he was a good dancer. Both of us danced very well together. That's good. So. But I think I'm.

[05:56] EFUGBAIKE AJAYI, ENIOLA AJAYI, TOLUWALASE AJAYI: Can you give examples of which records you listened to and which were some of the songs that you guys danced to or some of the artists that you guys liked?

[06:05] OMOFOLABO AJAYI-SOYINKA: Okay. The one, reggae. He loved reggae music, particularly Bob Marley. This were the music we enjoyed as when we were younger. And so we just, we call them oldies, them fella, of course, Fela, Anita Pokuti, who happens to be my cousin. Then Ebenezer obey Sonia. The nigerian artists high life. We love all types of music. But he didn't like classical. I grew to like classical very much, but he didn't. Classical, western, classical music. And so I just enjoyed that on my own. But jazz, blues. Oh, yeah, he liked rock music. I don't.

[07:01] EFUGBAIKE AJAYI, ENIOLA AJAYI, TOLUWALASE AJAYI: I also remember he liked country music too. He liked Kenny Rogers. The Kenny Rogers, that's where I get.

[07:10] OMOFOLABO AJAYI-SOYINKA: It from, because the people are like, how you like country music? I'm like country music.

[07:21] EFUGBAIKE AJAYI, ENIOLA AJAYI, TOLUWALASE AJAYI: What were some of the other things that you both did together when you were younger, like, you know, besides music or. I mean, I know you said that you both, you know, kind of did your own thing. You were doing your activism, which I'd like to. I'd like you to talk a little bit more about. But, you know, asides from dancing and listening to music, what else did you both enjoy doing together?

[07:44] OMOFOLABO AJAYI-SOYINKA: Traveling. We traveled a lot. I remember when you were young, any long weekend that we had, we just pack you in car, drive. We would drive across the border to. This was when we were in Nigeria. We would go to Togo, would go to Ghana just for the weekend. We would just drive and just park you in the car. I remember before we got married, we went to Togo, our favorite place. And so when we came back, my mother was looking at me. He said, okay, when are you going to tell me? I said, tell you what? Tell me I won't be annoyed. I said, what do you mean? He said, well, what you want to do in Togo? I said, we just traveled. Didn't you go to get married? I said, mom, is this what you think of me? She thought, you know, but that's just how, you know, very compatible. That's how we were. And my mother, too, you know. I said, mom, you think we went to Togo to get married? Yeah. So that's so traveling. And we had planned also that by the time we were 50, we would drive across the continent. African continent.

[09:16] EFUGBAIKE AJAYI, ENIOLA AJAYI, TOLUWALASE AJAYI: Oh, wow.

[09:17] OMOFOLABO AJAYI-SOYINKA: Yeah, that's what we said. We'll get a jeep and just drive. But that didn't happen because then we had to come to the US. So can you talk more about how your life has changed from what you thought it would be to what it is now? Well, one, since we are on the topic of your dad also, I had envisioned we would grow very, very old together, toothless, you know, holding each other, you know, support, working. And so that's, you know, in fact, I remember I was collecting some cartoons of old people together, you know, getting old together, and think that saying that that's. We would share that. So that's. That's a major something. The other one is that I never envisaged myself coming to live in the US. Yeah, I thought, you know, my. After working, retiring, we had planned that we would just go to one remote village surrounded by nature and just, you know, be by ourselves. So that. That has changed a lot. So immigration is when you migrate, you have to reinvent yourself. And I think that's what we did. So what did bring you to the United States? Like, what were the circumstances? Well, I came on a postdoc fellowship. I had a melon postdoctoral something, and. Which was for a maximum of two years after the first year. And I came with you because I said I wouldn't leave you I couldn't leave you behind with the kind of political atmosphere that we had in Nigeria then. So after one year, your dad came. Your dad stayed in Nigeria. He came and he told me that, no, you can't go back to Nigeria now. And this is because of my activism, sort of political activism. I was not a politician. I was a teacher teaching at the university. But we have a very vibrant, very. Yeah, a community of lecturers and professors who are very invested in this progress of the nation and the country. And we were having this series of successive bad rulers. And so we. We protested, you know, during the faculty organized, you know, and engaged in series of activities, innocent activities like making the constitution aware, clearer for everybody in the society, not, you know, breaking it down in nigerian languages, different nigerian languages, if you must know, Nigeria has at least 2250 different languages and the constitution has been written in English. English is not their first language. So we took make, you know, translated parts of salient parts of the constitution into a number of nigerian languages. I said these were innocent, very simple things, but which proved to be a threat to the government. And in fact, before I came, I was in detention for organizing a rally on campus. So. But anyway, I got my postdoc and things just got worse.

[13:51] EFUGBAIKE AJAYI, ENIOLA AJAYI, TOLUWALASE AJAYI: And what year was it?

[13:52] OMOFOLABO AJAYI-SOYINKA: This was 19. I left Nigeria, I think, 1988. Yeah. So we, the faculty union, the faculty professors were unionized.

[14:12] EFUGBAIKE AJAYI, ENIOLA AJAYI, TOLUWALASE AJAYI: Which university was which university?

[14:16] OMOFOLABO AJAYI-SOYINKA: University of Ife. Ileife. But throughout the country we were unionized and we call it ASU. So we're having, I mean, we're making statements, really trying to speak truth to power. And this was, you know, not popular. So. And this was under General Ibrahim Babangida. Yeah. And so we were hauled, you know, myself and a few others were hauled into detention, but it was Ife. Ife seem to be University of Ife or Abafemi Awolawo University, that's the new name, seems to be the hotbed of activism and confrontation with the government in the 1980s. I started 8586-8788 and I left in 88. I almost didn't leave because the government was even seizing my papers, the papers that would have enabled me to get proper working visa to the US at that time. So I had to come on a visitor's visa. And we were. I remember at the airport when the man, customs officer, asked me what I was coming to the US to do. I said, oh, I have a postdoc, and said, what will you be doing? I'll be teaching, you know. I said, well, sorry, you have a visitor's visa. You can't teach, you can't work. So he was going to send us back to Nigeria. So he put us aside, if you remember, and cleared all the other passengers. And then suddenly, you know, was looking for a plane to take us back to Nigeria. And I just got up and I went to him and I said, if you send me back to Nigeria, you are sending me and these girls, these little kids to their death. So he looked at me then took our passport, stamped them, but he said, you mustn't walk. You have a visitor visa. I said, okay. So when we got to Cornell, um, got to Cornell, um, in September. I was already late for the semester because the semester had started. Um, so my colleagues, Ben, um, wrote letters. I knew all the senators then of my constituents, you know, writing letters. And finally, by December of 88, I got proper visa. Working visa. I think it was age one or something, so I could start teaching.

[17:10] EFUGBAIKE AJAYI, ENIOLA AJAYI, TOLUWALASE AJAYI: Oh, I don't remember. I actually. I don't remember.

[17:15] OMOFOLABO AJAYI-SOYINKA: You were eleven then.

[17:17] EFUGBAIKE AJAYI, ENIOLA AJAYI, TOLUWALASE AJAYI: Yeah, I was eleven.

[17:18] OMOFOLABO AJAYI-SOYINKA: Kept it from you.

[17:20] EFUGBAIKE AJAYI, ENIOLA AJAYI, TOLUWALASE AJAYI: It was a lot of stress, I bet. I mean, that sounds incredibly stressful and scary.

[17:26] OMOFOLABO AJAYI-SOYINKA: Cornelius University said okay. They were loaning me money every month. They were not paying. Yeah. So loaning me money and, you know, so we could work with that, finally. Wow. So. Got approved. Yeah. I got into american politics straight away.

[17:48] EFUGBAIKE AJAYI, ENIOLA AJAYI, TOLUWALASE AJAYI: Wow.

[17:50] OMOFOLABO AJAYI-SOYINKA: With everything that you've been through, especially with you and daddy and having us, what do you think you're most grateful for? When you look back at everything you said, me and your dad, I didn't hear the first part of the question. No, I asked. With everything that you've been through in your life with daddy and everything that brought you to where you are now, knowing how things have changed from what you had planned, what do you think you're most grateful for? First? My family. I'm so grateful I have the family that I have. You, of course. Me, specifically. Yes. Thank you. My own birth family and also your dad's family. But most especially. I'm so happy. I'm so grateful that the three of you will see any. And Lashe, you are very close. The bond amongst you is very strong. The way you care for each other, it's. You know, I couldn't ask for anything more. I'm so happy about that. Yeah. That makes me happy.

[19:13] EFUGBAIKE AJAYI, ENIOLA AJAYI, TOLUWALASE AJAYI: Did you think we'd get there from the early days? Did you think we'd get to this point from our early days?

[19:26] OMOFOLABO AJAYI-SOYINKA: Yes, of course. Yeah. I always knew. I mean, Annie would always be a teacher. So from childhood you know, they were children and so on. And Becker, straight focused, you know, and taking the leadership role as the eldest.

[20:00] EFUGBAIKE AJAYI, ENIOLA AJAYI, TOLUWALASE AJAYI: I tried to give it up a few times, but, you know, no one would take it.

[20:05] OMOFOLABO AJAYI-SOYINKA: Nasha is another matter entirely. The best, the favorite. Unfortunately, she takes too much like me. She takes, so it's like, it's too much. Yeah. But you've all turned out very well, and I'm very, very proud of you, your achievements. I'm so happy. And your dad, we never doubted your success, you know, that you would make it whenever doubted it.

[20:41] EFUGBAIKE AJAYI, ENIOLA AJAYI, TOLUWALASE AJAYI: Well, I mean, you've set one. I think we had wonderful examples and role models of, you know, to, even despite the difficult times that we had, you know, to get us here, we always had that template that, you know, we'd always return to. So.

[20:59] OMOFOLABO AJAYI-SOYINKA: That's right.

[21:00] EFUGBAIKE AJAYI, ENIOLA AJAYI, TOLUWALASE AJAYI: We're very grateful for how you've raised us. Even though it was challenging at first when we first came here and trying to juggle these two cultures and navigate our way around it. What's that?

[21:14] OMOFOLABO AJAYI-SOYINKA: I said, still juggling two cultures?

[21:15] EFUGBAIKE AJAYI, ENIOLA AJAYI, TOLUWALASE AJAYI: Yes, definitely. Definitely. Still juggling. And I guess maybe that's one of the questions I do have for you, is you talked about you never imagined coming to the United States or, I think, living outside of, of Nigeria. So apart from that initial shock of your experience getting off the plane and kind of being told you couldn't work and you might get sent back, what has your experience of being here like? And what were your expectations when you came here and how has that played out of?

[21:58] OMOFOLABO AJAYI-SOYINKA: I don't think that I really had any expectations as such. I wanted to do my two year postdoc and go back to Nigeria and resume what we were doing. But then when your dad came and joined us and said, you can't go back yet, so took to looking for a tenure track job, and I got, you know, I took, I accepted the offer of the University of Kansas, which I thought would be good to bring up a family, a young family in a, in a new culture. I just didn't know how different Kansas would be from, from Ithaca, New York, to Lawrence, Kansas in the midwest. I remember when I said, when I told you I got a job and I'm going to, we are going to Kansas. Oh, you said, oh, we're going to Toto. Who is toto? I will be honest, mom. Like, I remember vividly when you told us that. I thought you were lying because we've only seen the wizard of Oz. I don't know if you remember. It was wizard of Oz. I'm like, it's. It doesn't exist. Kansas does not exist. So I thought you were lying, and I did not believe you that we were moving to Kansas. Because I'm like, no, that's in the movies. Like, there's no place with yellow brick road. We bought you. When we leaving England, we bought you two videos, the wizard of us and some animal kingdom something. Because we didn't want any violence. We didn't want any. Yeah. So. And you would watch and watch. So when I said, we're going to. We're going to Kansas. Oh, total slanted.

[24:08] EFUGBAIKE AJAYI, ENIOLA AJAYI, TOLUWALASE AJAYI: And I honestly couldn't believe that there was a university there because I thought, okay, if this place does exist, it's nothing but farmland or, you know. And I was just like, wait, what are we gonna do? So it was definitely quite a shock, for sure, to move to Kansas.

[24:25] OMOFOLABO AJAYI-SOYINKA: And it didn't help that we moved in the middle of summer.

[24:30] EFUGBAIKE AJAYI, ENIOLA AJAYI, TOLUWALASE AJAYI: Oh, my gosh.

[24:30] OMOFOLABO AJAYI-SOYINKA: Yeah, it was hot. It was hot. It wasn't in July. We moved of what?

[24:38] EFUGBAIKE AJAYI, ENIOLA AJAYI, TOLUWALASE AJAYI: We arrived July 1, I think.

[24:40] OMOFOLABO AJAYI-SOYINKA: Yeah, July 3.

[24:44] EFUGBAIKE AJAYI, ENIOLA AJAYI, TOLUWALASE AJAYI: Oh, third. Okay.

[24:45] OMOFOLABO AJAYI-SOYINKA: Yeah, July 3, you could see the heat waves in the atmosphere. We brought a fish tank from. From Ithaca. I mean, Ithaca was still cold when we were leaving, and all the fish died. Yes. Yes, I remember that. Because our car. We didn't have an air conditioner in the car. We didn't need it in Etheka, New York. No. But. So it was a great adjustment from one culture to another. Okay. We thought of leaving. I thought of looking for another job. But I said, we've moved you around too much. You know, from Nigeria to Ithaca to Lawrence and then to move to another place. So we just said, okay, we'll make the best of it. Unfortunately, I had very good colleagues. Yeah.

[25:56] EFUGBAIKE AJAYI, ENIOLA AJAYI, TOLUWALASE AJAYI: When were. When did you think about leaving or moving? And why were you thinking about moving?

[26:04] OMOFOLABO AJAYI-SOYINKA: Because it was too few black people. Yeah. It was just. And coming from Nigeria, you know, so it was like coming from majority to minority and then to super minority, you know? And I wondered the effect on you, too, you know, as an adult. Yeah, I could take it. I could take the. But you. What you would be experiencing in school and what you were really experiencing in school with your teachers and so on. But I think my sort of brush way, in a case, in a sense, created space for you and between you and your teachers, because I remember I would go to PTA meeting and. No, no, no. The one school. When you talk one on one with your teachers, teacher parenting. I remember. I think it was your Annie, your teacher. And I said, I don't tolerate nonsense. If she misbehaves, discipline her and then tell me, and I will also discipline her. And she looked at me like I was. Yes, I mean it. I mean it. Then finally she said, no parent had ever told me that. So I think that, you know, that this woman is different. Crazy, but it's okay. We can work with our children. And you came with, through lawrence schools with good results. I remember they placed you, you, annie and Becke in a special class. Gifted. Pardon? Gifted. Gifted, yes, gifted class. Immediately. You know, I mean, they did some tests and, you know, so. And lache had hers later, but. So, you know, you were academically very sound. Did you ever think of moving back to Nigeria? Once we were in kansas, yeah, we thought of it and we kept dreaming. But then, oh, you know, your dad couldn't get a job in his field in the midwest. We tried. He was going for interview. He was at it. And in the nineties, we moved to lawrence, kansas, in 1990. And kansas did not have much of tech development, and so he was doing odd jobs here and there. And then I think after five years, I said, the field of technology is developing at a fantastic pace. And you've been out of the field for almost five years now. Look outside kansas. So. And that's how he got the job in California.

[30:12] EFUGBAIKE AJAYI, ENIOLA AJAYI, TOLUWALASE AJAYI: Yeah, palo alto.

[30:14] OMOFOLABO AJAYI-SOYINKA: Pardon? Yeah, so that's, so I said, okay, that's a sacrifice. And then things started changing. So you were here. And I said, okay, um, when lashe. So we said, okay, when she finishes college degree, first degree, you know, before going on, I would move to California. And so we're planning on that. And just walking along. And we said, okay, we'll just leave you here. We'll find something that we can do across the ocean in Nigeria and here, so we'll be able to come and see you. And then, so he moved, and I was looking for a job there. We started planning, um, about what we can do, grants. We could write something that, you know, we're going to combine his it knowledge with my own literary knowledge, create cartoons, you know, cultural based cartoons, you know, things like that. And then, so I was about to resign from Ku. He just said, why don't you wait a bit, you know, because we said 2000 Lashelle would be graduating. And he said, why don't you wait a bit, you know, for me to get my full professorship. I was so mad. I said, we've discussed this. Why are you changing? But one of the few occasions I listened to him. So I didn't resign, and I was furious. I stumbled back to. Back to Lawrence and said, okay. And three years later, he felt sick. And two different, very rare, very rare diseases. So just imagine if I had resigned from Ku without getting a job, and he had to leave his job because he was very sick. I don't know where would be. So that's when the whole thing started changing and when. So I moved him back to Lawrence, and he had three more, you know, okay, years back to you survived Ui survival. And I thank God for that. You know, the practice then for, you know, Nigerians and Africans, when somebody and guys here collect money and then take them home and go and bury them. And I said, no, he will be buried here. So we buried him in Lawrence. And I remember you asking. You were upset when I put on the gravestone, both of us. I remember you were all upset then. I said, yeah, you know, I'm going to die, and I'll be buried here. And you asked me, when you got over it, you asked if you should exhume us later and take us back to Ife, to Nigeria, because, you know, we like Ife. And I said, no, it's here. You know, your loved ones are here. The graveyard, the burial ground, the cemetery is just for the bones and carcass. You don't have to exhume. So it's always here. Your heart. You know, I can say that your strength that you have is definitely something that you've passed on to us. I honestly have tried to remember that time when Lucy and daddy were both sick. And honestly, I don't remember. I can't. I cannot put the timeline together with daddy being sick, and we'll see, being sick, and then we'll see, you know, the cancer coming back. I can't put that timeline together. And I always wondered, you know, where that strength came from, because you got us all through it. You know, I know that you were, especially with Uncle T dying, what you must have gone through with his family, Nigeria and the politics of, you know, daddy's family and managing us who didn't really know the day to day, everything that was going on. And your strength is. Is still very inspiring, because. I don't know. I mean, I had lots of help, you know, even with UC, Aaron took a lot of, you know, taking care of her and so on. So Aaron was a big help there, you know, so I didn't have to.

[36:13] EFUGBAIKE AJAYI, ENIOLA AJAYI, TOLUWALASE AJAYI: Aaron is my husband.

[36:14] OMOFOLABO AJAYI-SOYINKA: Yeah.

[36:17] EFUGBAIKE AJAYI, ENIOLA AJAYI, TOLUWALASE AJAYI: You know, and he. He was very helpful during that phase. And, you know, it took all of us, definitely. Um, we were not married at the. At that point. Um, but it was really. You know, we all got through it. It was definitely. You know, a lot of it is. That time is also a blur to me as well. But, you know, I definitely remember mom's strength during that time because I can't imagine dealing with two life threatening illnesses and trying to. You know, you were still working at that point, like you said, and then trying to manage my care as well as dad's care at the same time. And, you know, even you and Lashe. Lasha, you were wrapping up school. I can't remember now. Or you're getting ready to start med school.

[37:12] OMOFOLABO AJAYI-SOYINKA: Yeah.

[37:12] EFUGBAIKE AJAYI, ENIOLA AJAYI, TOLUWALASE AJAYI: Medical school.

[37:13] OMOFOLABO AJAYI-SOYINKA: Yeah. No, your dad died when she was about to start school.

[37:16] EFUGBAIKE AJAYI, ENIOLA AJAYI, TOLUWALASE AJAYI: Right.

[37:19] OMOFOLABO AJAYI-SOYINKA: You remember, my sister would call from Lagos, Antiagba. She would call, you know, I would go to work, and she would call from Lagos, Nigeria, call your dad. Talking to him, keeping him company. So we had Anton Kutaye, my husband's senior brother, would call always, you know, so we had lots of support, family support across. Across the land. Oh, I'm sorry. I keep doing that. And my church, too. My church. Mommy, we have about probably three more minutes left. Okay. How would you. What do you want to tell us or leave us with that we haven't asked, that you haven't told us, or maybe we haven't really absorbed, but this time that we have left, how would you want to close this out? Um, that I love you dearly, equally? I may not say it all the time, or I seldom. Let me say I seldom say it because it's not part of our culture to say love.

[38:42] EFUGBAIKE AJAYI, ENIOLA AJAYI, TOLUWALASE AJAYI: Love.

[38:43] OMOFOLABO AJAYI-SOYINKA: You show it, and I think I've tried to show it. You know, I don't have any favorites. I know you were all. You were all adopted.

[39:01] EFUGBAIKE AJAYI, ENIOLA AJAYI, TOLUWALASE AJAYI: No, I think it was. We were found at the store doorsteps. Yes.

[39:07] OMOFOLABO AJAYI-SOYINKA: I love you, Kole. I know you have. I recognize each of your strengths. You have different strengths and qualities, and I appreciate each and every quality that, you know, each of you has. Yeah. Call mom more often. Yeah, that's a fair point.

[39:36] EFUGBAIKE AJAYI, ENIOLA AJAYI, TOLUWALASE AJAYI: A fair point there.

[39:39] OMOFOLABO AJAYI-SOYINKA: I really appreciate all you have done is what you did for my 70th birthday was wonderful. I thank you very much. I love you, and I also love just who you are. Thank you. Your birthday was on Halloween, October 31. And I will tell you, for me, just becoming a mom, as much trouble as I gave you as a child, and now I definitely appreciate everything, the way that you raised us and why you raised us, the way that we did. And, you know, when I see myself coming out, when I see you coming out to me when I'm parenting Tiwa, especially Tiwa, who is now giving me what I gave you, I appreciate it. And I'm grateful for the lessons you taught me as a parent, because it's helping me be a better mom. So I want you to know that I appreciate that about you. I'm waiting for when good. Tiwa, come on. That's what she did to me, too. Go ahead. Come over now. It's happening now. I would. I will echo what Lashe just said, because I know the teenage years and especially trying to navigate to culprits, you know, I wasn't nigerian, you know, because been away for so long, and I'm not american and. And just lost in between that land, and. And I know I fought you a couple of times. You know, we butted heads, and. And I always. You know, I can tell you now, but I did tell my friends that the reason your birthday was on Halloween is because you are a witch in Nigeria. But that was the teenage me, and the teenage me didn't appreciate you. But the adult me can say that I do appreciate you, and I do find myself, uh, parenting my own kids the same way you parented us. Um, just that high demand. Um. And I know sometimes they don't like it or, um. And I keep telling them, one day you appreciate me. Um, but. And I hope that is true, that one day they will appreciate my, uh, my discipliness of them. But I do appreciate you and everything that you've done and for you and dad, because I know when. When he was out of work and not finding the work in it for him to humble himself and work at Parker plastics, for one, and just doing jobs that were, I would say, beneath them, and just appreciate those. Those. Those sacrifices that you. You guys made for us. So continue. We don't say it enough. I know I don't say it enough, but we do appreciate you and your strength.

[42:33] EFUGBAIKE AJAYI, ENIOLA AJAYI, TOLUWALASE AJAYI: I would definitely just third everything that Annie and Lache just said. I have tremendous appreciation and gratitude for the strength and the sacrifice that you and dad have shown just in coming here and all the struggles. I know we haven't even touched on a 10th of all the struggles that you and the experiences that you all had and all you had to deal with and kind of swallow to create a life for all of us here. And I also just want to say thank you for the way that you've raised us. As Annie said, trying to grow up and navigate two cultures, especially in Kansas, where it was so hard to be different, you know, to be a person of color, to be, you know, not white, to be from Africa, you know, to be from Nigeria, it was incredibly difficult. But you also just, you know, you surrounded with the US, with community of the people, you know, at the university. You create a community there for us of people who also help us just kind of see, we could see ourselves in them. Not only just the way that you modeled for us, but, you know, you also got us other models as well to kind of say that it is okay to be who you are and the fact that you emphasize and you really, you made sure that we knew where we came from and who we were, that you made sure that we spoke your. Even though it's hard and, you know, definitely did not like those summers spent inside learning Yoruba and everything like that, but now, again, being older, have a much deeper appreciation of that. And I think that also, it's still hard sometimes. And I'm like, it's so. I'm not fully nigerian. I'm not fully american, but I definitely feel much more of a connection to home whenever we go, whenever we talk to family. And I appreciate having that sense of self because it can be very difficult to be straddling these two cultures, but have a stronger sense of self. So, thank you, mom. I love you and I appreciate you, and I'll call more often.

[44:49] OMOFOLABO AJAYI-SOYINKA: Annie. I will. Remember, I'm a witch. Good job, Annie.

[44:57] EFUGBAIKE AJAYI, ENIOLA AJAYI, TOLUWALASE AJAYI: Yeah.

[44:57] OMOFOLABO AJAYI-SOYINKA: Wait.

[44:57] EFUGBAIKE AJAYI, ENIOLA AJAYI, TOLUWALASE AJAYI: Again.

[45:06] OMOFOLABO AJAYI-SOYINKA: There we go. We'll take it back to me, but I like it. I'm going to make a placard. Well, thank you.