THIS week the Advertiser backs the campaign to save Jonathon Kazembe, who is being threatened with deportation back to Congo.

The 29-year-old trainee teacher fled the country in 2005 after being jailed and tortured for trying to stop the recruitment of child soldiers as young as eight to fight in a civil war.

He says he will be killed if he is forced to go back.

After his bid for asylum failed, Jonathon was sleeping rough in Manchester before meeting Jenny Thomas at a Church Action Against Poverty event.

Jenny, a member of St Luke’s and St James’s in Whitfield, took him into her home in Old Glossop and is now helping his fight to stay.

He said: "It was a very bad time back then - I had nowhere to go. Jenny has been taking care of me since and I feel like part of the family.

"I have never experienced anything negative here and people have been so warm-hearted."

Jenny added: "He only had a toothbrush and a bag of clothes. I thought, ‘I am living on my own in this big house and he needs a place — why not!’"

Jonathon, whose parents drowned in a boating tragedy when he was seven, has already thrown himself into community work. He visits local schools to talk about his life in Africa, teaches children French and also helps out at Time Out sessions for the elderly and disabled at Bradbury House.

He is currently making a fresh application to stay but has to be grilled by an immigration officer every month and could be deported at any time.

The campaign has been backed by High Peak MP Tom Levitt who wrote a letter to the Home Office on his behalf.

To sign the petition, asking Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to allow Jonathon to stay in the UK, click here .

Copies are also in St Luke’s and St James’s churches, Whitfield, in Glossop Wholefoods on Henry Street, and can be downloaded from the Lift Global Music Club’s website www.liftglobal.com where Jonathan is a volunteer.

For more information or to get involved in his campaign email jonathonkazembe@btinternet.com or ring 07949 656273.