Born in Zimbabwe in 1972, I traveled extensively with my family while young, but my first trip alone was to Romania, following the fall of Ceausescu in 1991.
News of the horrific conditions in which Romania's unwanted children were being kept had hit the British headlines and I decided to see what I could do to help. I arrived at Negru Voda orphanage in January 1992 after leaving school. It was home to 360 severely disabled children. Many had never left the confines of their wards where they were crammed three to a bed - beating their heads against the walls in violent frustration, or rocking silently to comfort themselves after years of neglect. Romania's forgotten children had a huge effect on me. At the age of 19 I had no idea that the world could be so cruel. I worked there for a year and returned every summer while studying at university.
Realizing that aid work touched the tip of much bigger issues, I turned to journalism as a way to expose these to a wider audience, and those with power to make a difference. After leaving St Andrew's University, I joined the BBC's News and Current Affairs department and subsequently went on to study photojournalism at the London College of Printing.
Traveling to Bosnia in the wake of the war I continued on to Albania to document the refugees who flooded over the border from Kosova in 1999. The post conflict environment of the Balkans fascinated me and I became aware that the most vulnerable people, primarily women and children, were slipping through the net of international aid, which opened them up to exploitation and abuse. Returning to Bosnia, I spent a year uncovering the exploding sex slave trade - young girls trafficked from Romania, Moldova and the Ukraine being bought and sold as commodities, primarily to service the sexual needs of the International Community.
Moving on to work in DR Congo in 2003 I uncovered extensive sexual abuse of young girls by UN peace keepers, as well as high level cover ups of the issue by UN personnel in New York. Backed by The Independent Newspaper, I continued to investigate the issue, which eventually led to the forced resignation of the head of the UNHCR, Rudd Lubbers. The exploitation of vulnerable people continues to be an issue I follow.
I now work primarily as a news and features photographer, covering events throughout Africa and the Middle East.
News of the horrific conditions in which Romania's unwanted children were being kept had hit the British headlines and I decided to see what I could do to help. I arrived at Negru Voda orphanage in January 1992 after leaving school. It was home to 360 severely disabled children. Many had never left the confines of their wards where they were crammed three to a bed - beating their heads against the walls in violent frustration, or rocking silently to comfort themselves after years of neglect. Romania's forgotten children had a huge effect on me. At the age of 19 I had no idea that the world could be so cruel. I worked there for a year and returned every summer while studying at university.
Realizing that aid work touched the tip of much bigger issues, I turned to journalism as a way to expose these to a wider audience, and those with power to make a difference. After leaving St Andrew's University, I joined the BBC's News and Current Affairs department and subsequently went on to study photojournalism at the London College of Printing.
Traveling to Bosnia in the wake of the war I continued on to Albania to document the refugees who flooded over the border from Kosova in 1999. The post conflict environment of the Balkans fascinated me and I became aware that the most vulnerable people, primarily women and children, were slipping through the net of international aid, which opened them up to exploitation and abuse. Returning to Bosnia, I spent a year uncovering the exploding sex slave trade - young girls trafficked from Romania, Moldova and the Ukraine being bought and sold as commodities, primarily to service the sexual needs of the International Community.
Moving on to work in DR Congo in 2003 I uncovered extensive sexual abuse of young girls by UN peace keepers, as well as high level cover ups of the issue by UN personnel in New York. Backed by The Independent Newspaper, I continued to investigate the issue, which eventually led to the forced resignation of the head of the UNHCR, Rudd Lubbers. The exploitation of vulnerable people continues to be an issue I follow.
I now work primarily as a news and features photographer, covering events throughout Africa and the Middle East.