School thanked for tsunami appeal

The Aurora appeal is building a new multi-coloured village

A cinnamon farmer from Sri Lanka visited Kent to thank the children who helped raise money towards a new school for his tsunami-hit village.

Viji Jayatileke met the pupils of Brunswick House Primary School in Maidstone, who have been taking part in the Aurora Tsunami Orphanage Appeal.

Set up in the wake of the Asian tsunami in December 2004, the appeal is funding an entire new village in Kosgoda.

The new school is due to open at the beginning of December.

English classes

Kosgoda lies on the edge of a cinnamon plantation and has 40 families, Mr Jayatileke said.

"The children in Sri Lanka are very grateful for the kids raising money.

"We are going to have English classes to upgrade their English level, and it's going to be used as well for other purposes in the village."

Sheila Dennis, head teacher at Brunswick House, said: "I feel very pleased and very proud that we've been able to help them, but also very humbled by the way the children in Sri Lanka value their education so much.

"It's also good for our children to learn how other children in other parts of the world live."

The Aurora appeal was set up by Jan and Ian Linch, from Sutton Valence near Maidstone, whose fundraising efforts have seen clothes, toys and building materials sent out to Kosgoda.

Forty new homes and the school are being built two miles further inland from where the village was originally located.