Beg, Steal or Borrow

First of all, I want to say Hello & Welcome to the students and tutors on the Saltash Campus of Cornwall College (http://www.cornwall.ac.uk/). It's great to hear that you're all interested in what I'm doing and following my progress. I've been told that you are trying to put together some supplies for me to take and I can't thank you enough for getting involved! I look forward to meeting you when I get back :-)

Right, I have finally put together what I believe to be my final packing list today. Apart from the obvious things such as clothes and toiletries, there are other things that I would ideally like to take which I don't have and, more to the point, have no hope of getting due to lack of funds. I have spent £55 on injections, £30 on my visa application, and I anticipate a further £70 due to upon arrival at Heathrow when they realise I am carrying waaaaay more than allowed. This is all out of my own budget. I have not asked for or had any donations towards these costs.

So I am once again enlisting the help of you lot (because you rock!). Please ask around if you yourself don't have the items listed. You never know which of your relatives might have something lurking in their garage/attic.

Please note: I will absolutely treat the items as if they were my own, I will have full travel insurance, and should anything happen to the item, I would of course replace it!

Neffy needs:

1. A head torch (preferably a wind-up one): Although I have a hand held torch, it has been advised by previous volunteers that I will need a head torch to read books by.

2. A solar powered all-purpose charger: I am taking my ipod (for the flights/overland travel), my phone (for "missing you all" texts back home) and two cameras. There is such a device on the internet for approx. £70 (over my budget) and it has an adapter for all technologies (including mahoosive power-hungry DSLR cameras, such as mine) and the battery compartment is adjustable in size. This is probably the most important item out of everything that I am hoping to borrow so please ask everyone you know! The school did have one (donated by my contact, Ann, on a previous trip) but it is not working at the moment.

3. Two x sturdy duffle/canvas travel bags: I will need two extra bags to take over the shoes, school supplies etc. Having spent the majority of my own holidays at beach resorts, all I have at home are bulky family suitcases. Once the supplies are donated, I need to be able to fold at least one of the bags down to pack away. I'm sure the second bag will be used to bring home goodies for my friends (especially the person who finds me the abovementioned solar powered charger *wink wink*)

Those are definitely the most pressing items I am looking for this week. Obviously, any of you who are seasoned travellers are free to call me up and say "Hey, I have such-and-such which you will probably need". All suggestions welcome!

Please remember, I am leaving in a little over two weeks so if you do have something you want to pass on to me, please contact me ASAP!