UK deportation nightmare: Broke Zim blogger hits jackpot

A FASHION blogger who grew up in Swindon is facing expulsion from the UK.

In an emotional plea posted on her YouTube page, Zimbabwe-born Rutendo Tichiwangani asked her fans for help to cover her £2,300 costs so she can claim UK citizenship.

The 22-year-old, who attended St Joseph’s College after joining her refugee parents in Swindon aged 10, said: “My life is not what people see. I live a very, very difficult life and I feel like every single day is an emotional rollercoaster.”

“I haven’t managed to save any money, I lost my job, I am in debt and I can’t even get a job right now to work and save,” she wrote on an online fundraising appeal.

“With my visa expiring in a month, no one will hire me temporarily. I have only one month left to gather this money and I am running out of time.

“The reason why I have left it so late is because I was trying everything in my power to sort it out, but I have come to the end of the road.”

But after posting her fundraising appeal on Tuesday, the online celebrity has smashed her £2,300 target.

In just two days, Rutendo has raised almost £4,000 – helped along by social media users who spotted the appeal when it began trending on Twitter with the #VisaBae hashtag.

Thanking her followers she said: “This means the world to me. I’ve been trying to go figure out how to stop donations and I’m shuffling. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE STOP DONATING!”

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