A COMMUNITY is rallying round to raise money to house a failed asylum seeker and her young family.

Supporters of Elizabeth Kiwunga hope to raise more than £15,000 to keep her and her two children safe, now they have been deported back to Uganda.

The fundraising was launched as a key government advisor urged a change in policy on detaining children in immigration centres.

Ms Kiwunga and her British-born children, Hilary- Marie, four, and one-year-old John, were flown back to Uganda after being seized by UK Border Agency (UKBA) officials in Darlington.

It was reported the children spent half an hour alone with immigration officials while their mother was taken in another vehicle.

In 2002, Ms Kiwunga fled the East African country where, she said, she was raped and tortured by thugs loyal to her former husband’s political opponents. After settling in Darlington, she won the support of the community, who campaigned for her to be allowed to stay in the UK.

They hope to raise £15,000 to buy a plot of land and build a house, and about £150-amonth to maintain the family.

Reverend Sheilagh Williamson, a friend of Ms Kiwunga, visited the family last week.

“Without any exaggeration, if we don’t support them, they will be homeless and destitute,” she said.

“There is no family who can support her and friends are scared to help because of fear of reprisals from the Ugandan government.

“They are living five-to-aroom at the moment. They really need our help.”

Shortly after her deportation, children’s commissioner Sir Al Aynsley-Green criticised the UKBA for splitting Ms Kiwunga from her children.

A recent study by medical experts, which looked at a group of children at Yarl’s Wood Immigration Centre, in Bedfordhsire, where Ms Kiwunga and her family were held, found it caused anxiety and depression in youngsters.

Sir Al said: “If there ever is a need to detain families it should only be used as a last resort and for the shortest time possible.”

David Wood, strategic director of the criminality and detention group of UKBA, said Yarl’s Wood had been praised for its children’s facilities several times.

He said: “We would rather keep children out of detention.

However, when courts say families have no right to be here, yet they refuse to go home, detention will often be necessary to enforce removal.”

To help Ms Kiwunga, send cheques payable to SC Williamson, 26, Upsall Drive, Darlington, DL3 8RB.