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Volunteers' plea to let Jonathon stay

Sue Carr
11/ 6/2008

EVEN the threat of deportation didn’t stop Jonathon Kazembe from taking part in Glossop Volunteer Week.

Jonathon, 29, fled the country in 2005 after being jailed and tortured for trying to stop the recruitment of child soldiers.

A trainee teacher, he was sleeping rough before being taken in by Old Glossop resident Jenny Thomas who he met at a church event.

Jonathon is now a volunteer at the Time Out club for elderly and disabled people at Bradbury House and at the Lift Global Music Club. He also visits local schools to talk about his life in Africa.

Children from Jenny’s parish – St Luke’s and St James’s in Whitfield – made banners to put up on Saturday’s event in Norfolk Square to encourage others to back his campaign.

Jonathon said: "I enjoy volunteering and it was nice to be a part of the event. People also talked to me about my campaign and I now have about 500 names on my petition.

"It makes me feel wonderful that there are so many who want to get involved."

Jonathon, who lost both his parents in a boating accident when he was seven, says he will be killed if he is sent back to Congo. Although a judge ruled that it was ‘inhumane’ to deport him, he still refused his appeal and Jonathon is currently making a fresh application to stay.

Click here to sign Jonathon’s petition, or www.liftglobal.com. There are also copies in St Luke’s and St James’s in Whitfield and in Glossop Wholefoods on Henry Street.

For more details email Jonathonkazembe@btinternet.com or phone 07949 656273.