Appeal to build Sri Lankan school

Mr Davis often bought bananas in Sri Lanka to give to children

A businessman has begun an appeal to build a new school for 300 children in a Sri Lankan community devastated by the Boxing Day tsunami.

Esmor Davis, 59, from Buckley in Flintshire, aims to raise £150,000 to fund the work in Bettigola.

He decided to help the village in the south west of the island after visiting in the weeks following the disaster.

Mr Davis has organised a fundraising concert at the North Wales Theatre in Llandudno on 22 April.

The event will feature opera singers Rhys Meirion, Mary Lloyd Davies and Andrew Griffiths, Cor y Brythoniaid and a children's choir from Ysgol y Bont in Llangefni.

They need so much help (in Sri Lanka) now, not in five years' time or two years' time Esmor Davis

The government in charge of the village has already donated a six-acre patch of land to the project, which will be known as the Daffodil School.

Mr Davis, the owner of a construction and demolition company, has a choice of two disused factories, one of which could be dismantled and shipped to Sri Lanka to provide a steel structure for the school.

James Williams, a 29-year-old joiner from Mold, has given up three months of his time to fly to the village, where he is currently helping to prepare the site.

An initial boost to fundraising has come from Ysgol Cynwyd, a primary school near Corwen in Denbighshire, which has donated £500.

"I'm delighted to know the money from their school is going to another little school in Sir Lanka," said Mr Davis.

Mr Davis with some possible Daffodil School pupils of the future

"I hope the north Wales people will look at that and do as many things as they can.

"The concert is our key thing now to get it going and let the people know what we're doing."

Bettingola's original school had been built on low-lying land close to the sea and was destroyed by the tsunami.

The Daffodil School will be built on the village's new site, 20 miles inland and on higher ground.

Homes, a medical centre, two shops and a community centre will be built alongside, with parts of the development being supported by a contingent of volunteers from Ireland.

"We've got the Welsh flag flying alongside the Irish flag, I'm very proud of that," said Mr Davis.

"They need so much help (in Sri Lanka) now, not in five years' time or two years' time.

"Let's get our act together and do something."