We know that everyone who has worked with Staffordshire Buddies (and the projects it manages) are keen to know how Andrew Colclough is doing. We received this letter which he asked us to publish to bring everyone up to speed. Andrew writes:

Those of you who have been following the ups and downs of my prospective departure to Namibia will know that I have been delayed twice and have only reached just reached the point of getting on a plane. I’m writing this on the 30th March and I will depart on 3rd April, so if all goes well I will have departed by the time you read this.

Although it may seem a long time has past since I left, this feels like a good time to say thanks to everyone who contributed to my leaving present. Those of you who were at my leaving do may recall that the mini hi-fi hadn’t actually been purchased at that point as there was doubt about how I would get it to and from Namibia. It eventually turned out that the weight of the unit originally proposed was just too much for hand luggage and shipping a valuable electrical item separately carried a hefty charge and a big risk.

So in the end I had this lightweight compact unit made by Bose. I don’t want to sound like a sales person but it has specially designed acoustic chambers behind the miniature speakers that are shaped a bit like the inside of an ear. This “wave guide” technology gives a crystal clear big hi-fi sound in a unit that weighs less than two bags of sugar. It has a super quality CD and FM radio with a credit card size remote control and most important of all it will fit comfortably in my hand luggage.

To go with it, there is a pair of hi-tech cordless headphones that mean I can listen to music anywhere within 50 yards of the unit without a wire coming out of my ear. No doubt they will be much appreciated by my Namibian neighbours late at night and on Sunday afternoons.

Music is one of my great passions and having this wonderful system for the leisure hours of my adventure abroad is truly wonderful (I’m a lot happier with it than I look in this dreadful photograph!).

So thanks to everyone who contributed to the gifts, I will remember you all when I am playing some fine music under a Namibian sunset at the end of a busy day. Bye for now, will keep in touch.

Andrew J. Colclough

In a recent telephone conversation with Andrew’s partner Ken we learned that Andrew is happy in Namibia and has made lots of new friends. He has a comfortable air-conditioned apartment in the ground of the hospital where he is working but unfortunately, he is still waiting for his own computer. Ken suggests that this is the reason he hasn’t been in touch with us directly.

We are please to be reassured that Andrew is nowhere near any trouble spots and that if there was any threat of danger Ken says that he would see that Andrew came back home straight away.