Lucozade, Ribena, Panadol, and Scott’s Cod Liver Oil are fine GSK made products that Americans have never heard of (yes, the beverages are still manufactured by GSK). Other wonderful over the counter GSK products include: Tums, Aquafresh, and Breathe Right nasal strips.
How much fun would it be to tour the factory where these are made…
The GSK PULSE Team helped set up a meeting so those on PULSE assignment in Kenya could visit the office and factory located in Nairobi.
Today is a really good day in the factory!
Our PULSE colleagues in Kisumu flew down to Nairobi. I was very interested in meeting these five colleagues and trade stories. Three of them routinely post on the formal GSK blog and they are always so positive and say how everything in Kenya is amazing. Could Kisumu and Nairobi be that different?
We arrived at the GSK Kenya office at 9am and I was immediately amazed that the Kenyan employees were ready for us. They were on GSK time, not Kenya time! We even had an agenda! I was expecting the typical 30-45 minutes late start.
The tour began by getting a VIP badge. This badge gave us access to everywhere. I don’t even have access to all the rooms at my home site (only Caitlin and Patricia know the secrets within the ‘Mother’s Room’)
Product stability testing
Yes, Pappar, I will bring back a pallet for you
I was really surprised how close we were able to get to the product.
After the tour we broke up into small groups to talk with potential PULSE volunteers and answer their questions. We began with an introduction of ourselves, how we have adapted, and what we have learned so far.
Quick 5 min speech explaining the slide below.
I couldn’t resist sharing a picture of autumn
In the small groups I was asked similar questions that I had grilled former volunteers: how do you deal with being away from family, scariness of being in a new country, and how to deal with language difference.
As a reminder, a PULSE applicant might have an option to work in their home country (3 months) or work abroad (6 months). Everyone I spoke to I tried to suggest they work abroad. When else could you travel and really experience another country (or two in my case: England and Kenya)?
One women was very eager to go on an abroad PULSE assignment. Her biggest fear was that living anywhere else in the world would be too expensive. I attempted to alleviate her concern by letting her know that PULSE will pay for extras that are required, but you do not have in your home country. For example, they will pay for your housing since you will still be paying for your home country housing. For me, in the U.S. we use the tap water for cooking and drinking so GSK pays for our bottled water here.
“You can drink the tap water in the U.S.?!” The potential PULSE volunteer gasped.
“Yes, it is clean,” I assured her.
“I have never drank tap water. Does it taste different?” She further inquired.
“It’s more watery then water. It’s got a water kick to it.” It is easy to pass comedian’s jokes as my own since it is very unlikely they know Jim Gaffigan (starts at time 1:15).
“So you don’t have bottled water?”
“We do, but tap water is regulated by the U.S. government.”
“You trust the government more than we do.”
The Kisumu group and my fellow Nairobi-based workers reconvened at Talisman for dinner. Talisman was voted the best restaurant in Kenya. “Oh how impressive,” you might say. “How many stars did it get?” It should surprise nobody at this point that Michelin has not granted a visit here yet. Talisman was delicious, but then again, I have been excited by all low sodium foods here.
It was great to chat with the Kisumu group and hear about their lives in the third largest Kenyan city. My take home thoughts from them is that their view of Lake Victoria looks fantastic, but I have won with Nairobi since there is far more to do nearby. Also, and more importantly, my flatmates and I get along far better and have way more fun together.
Kevin's Fellowship Abroad 