AS a teenager Daniel Sukula made a heartfelt plea asking for help from the people of Bolton to stop him and his family from being deported to the Democratic Republic of Congo ­— a nation in the midst of the a cruel civil war in which he feared he would be forced to become a child soldier.

Today, at the age of 29, Daniel is fulfilling his promise to give back to the community, which together with The Bolton News campaigned on behalf of the family.

Daniel is opening a hub for young people to develop new skills, gain qualifications and take part in activities such as dancing, music, boxing and football, through his community interest company Be The Best Company, which he runs with Tunde Olasupo.

"I want to give something back to the community, " said Daniel. "If it was not for the people of Bolton, my family would not be here now.

"I was just a boy when I started the campaign to keep my family here and it was hard, but the people of Bolton supported me and now I want to do something for them."

He added: "We have faced obstacles, like not planning permission first time, but like with the campaign I knew I could not give up and had to keep going because it is needed."

His determination paid off, with Be the Best getting the green light to the former RTB House, in Great Lever as a hub for young people.

Daniel said there was a demand for young people's centre,

He explained: "We used to run a number of activities for a short time such as football and they were always popular. We also carried out surveys among young people and their parents and they said there was a need for something like this. This really will make a massive difference to young people.

"This organisation will complement other organisations for young people and hopefully the idea is all the organisations work together because we have the same goal."

Daniel said Be the Best had partnered with training organisations to provide training for volunteers and had teamed up with training provider Rathbones to provide qualifications.

Tunde said the organisation aimed to help young people “be outstanding”, promoting esteem and social inclusion to counter anti-social behaviour.

He said: “We want to use the building in Summerfield Road to focus on training young people, equipping them with new skills, encompassing creativity in music, building confidence in dance and improving their language skills through song-writing."

Now the two are busy applying for grants to refurbish the building before they can start running the activities.