MORE than 1,000 people have pledged their support to a Glossop asylum seeker who is fighting deportation back to Congo.

Trainee teacher Jonathon Kazembe fled the country in 2005 after being jailed and tortured for trying to stop the recruitment of child soldiers for a civil war.

The 29 year old was sleeping rough before he was taken in by Old Glossop resident Jenny Thomas, who he met at a church event, and says he will be killed if he is forced to go back.

Jonathon, who volunteers at a club for the elderly and disabled and also helps at the Lift, has now collected more than 1,000 signatures, not only from Glossop but from as far afield as Hertfordshire.

‘He said: "I am getting a positive response and it’s a really good feeling. One lady said to me that she didn’t like the idea of people coming to this country but from what she had seen me doing in the town it had made her support me. I’d like people to understand that I don’t want to stay here for the rest of my life, just until things in my country calm down."

Jonathon is now visiting local schools to talk about his life in Africa and is also due to speak at the One World Festival in High Lea Park, New Mills, on Saturday. He will be talking about how environmental issues such as climate change and deforestation affect his home in Kirumba-Goma.

To sign Jonathon’s petition go to our website www.glossopadvertiser.co.uk or www.liftglobal.com.  There are also copies in St Luke’s and St James’s churches in Whitfield and in Glossop Wholefoods on Henry Street.

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

You can also click here to add your support ...