FOREIGN Office worker Samantha Davies is never more at home than where she is located...currently “our girl” in Columbo!

For her job working for the British High Commissioner in Sri Lanka has seen her do some pretty important diplomatic work herself.

When the tsunami struck she was in the Maldives and managed to get back to her office within 24 hours where she strived to help repatriate British nationals, trace missing persons and deal with bereaved families.

She even sacrificed returning home to Britain to attend a friend’s wedding, rather than leave behind the troubles and her friends and workmates.

Samantha, 27, said from Sri Lanka: “I was due to fly home for my friend’s wedding but obviously I stayed. I just could not have left my colleagues to deal with that and there’s no way I could have left those people.

“It was very harrowing but I like to think I made a bit of a difference and it was very rewarding. I’m glad I was there and I would have done the same thing again. It was a crazy two months with a lack of sleep but you were just running on adrenalin.”

Samantha’s mum Shirley added: “When the tsunami hit, she was able to make one of the last calls before the phone lines went down.

“She was given leave for a bit and she did not really tell me much as it was too difficult for her.”

But it’s not all woe in her job with her Foreign Office. For presently she is working on a variety of projects – including getting ready to act as the liaison officer when the England cricket team arrive in September for their tour of Sri Lanka.

She said: “I miss my family and friends but I have been lucky that I managed to return to the UK once a year. I return to Macclesfield as it is still home to me but I do I love my job.”

Samantha, whose mum Shirley, 60, runs Upton Guest House in Macclesfield, and whose dad John, 63, is a financial consultant, grew up in Macclesfield. She caught the globetrotting bug while travelling around Australia after completing her A-levels.

She worked for AstraZeneca before successfully applying to the Foreign Office and within a year, Samantha, who attended Dale Brown Primary School, now known as Prestbury Primary School, was working in London after passing the necessary exams, where she was part of the team monitoring the peace talks in Sudan.

The former Beech Hall School pupil got her first taste of the jet set lifestyle when she went on her maiden international trip to Sudan.

Samantha, who has a brother Jonathan, 28, said: “It was a familiarisation visit seeing how the embassy operated over there and meeting all the people I had been dealing with.”

Although Afghanistan is not a country you would normally associate with its beauty, she said she found the scenery stunning when she was posted to Kabul as assistant to the ambassador.

She said: “I lived in a compound and felt very protected – we would not have been sent there if it was not safe for us. I got to see a lot of the country because the ambassador was doing so much travelling and the lakes and mountains were absolutely stunning. It was very hectic, but really rewarding and fulfilling.”

Meanwhile, back at home, mum Shirley said: “It is a combination of pride and worry, but I will be glad to have her back on British soil as a two-hour train journey to London is much easier than for us to take a flight to the other side of the world in order to see her. I am very proud of what she does and it is a fabulous job and representing the British people.”

Samantha may be seeing a lot more of her fellow Maxonians when she returns to London next year in her new role as an operational officer after successfully being promoted.

However, as a position in the Foreign Office rarely lasts more than three years, it is most likely to be a flying visit before she is posted elsewhere...