Aid sent to build tsunami village

Jan and Ian Linch visited the people of Kosgoda in February

A charity set up by a Kent couple to help people living in a Sri Lankan village devastated by the tsunami has sent off its first container of aid.

The Aurora Tsunami Orphanage Appeal, in Sutton Valence, has despatched clothes, toys and building materials.

The charity, set up by Jan and Ian Linch, aims to build 40 new homes and a school in the village of Kosgoda.

Their aim had been to build an orphanage but a visit in February showed more needed to be done.

Money needed

Mrs Linch said three generations of families were being forced to live in just one room.

"It was the children that got my heart more than anything, because through their eyes you could see their pain," she said.

The couple, from Maidstone, were on holiday in the Maldives when the Asian tsunami struck on Boxing Day, but their thoughts turned to Kosgoda, where their daughter was married in 2001.

The Aurora appeal is rebuilding the village on four acres of land two miles inland from where it was located when the giant wave struck.

Some £30,000 has already been raised, but £100,000 is still needed.

The charity aims to ask families and businesses in Kent to sponsor individual homes which would cost £3,000 each.

Mr Linch said all the aid despatched in the consignment would give the people of the village "a good start to rebuild their lives again".