Hello, my name is Steven Lomas Brough, 28, originally from Cape Town, South Africa. I am a freelance photographer living and working here in the North East and I’d like to share the story of how I came to be in the region. I was born in South Africa in 1977, to a Geordie father who had travelled to Africa in the sixties and an Afrikaans mother from Pretoria. I grew up through some very turbulent times in South African history. I saw the end of Apartheid and watched a black political prisoner called Nelson Mandela being voted in as President of the new South Africa, in the country's first democratic elections. Black & White It was a time of change; it was exiting to be part of it. The high school I attended was one of the first schools to open its doors to pupils of all races. I remember feeling the excitement when the term started and our school would be integrated. When we lined up for assembly I recognised one of the new pupils, was a young black teen, Trevor, who I had been friends with when I was a kid. We used to play together on a farm where his father worked; Trevor showed me how to catch snakes out in the bush. I remember the day when Trevor and I had to start primary school, and when I asked him why he had to go to a school so far away; he said it was because he was black. I felt so proud to see him lining up with the rest of us. South Africa was moving forward. I finished school in Cape Town a few years later, the South African Government had implemented an ‘Affirmative Action’ policy, which made it difficult for young white people to get work. In the Bush I was lucky enough to get work out of the country. My new job took me to Botswana where I worked with geologists in the Kalahari Desert. The work was interesting, taking soil samples, but my real interest was visiting and photographing the Bushmen whom I came across in the middle of this expanse.
 | | Kalahari Bushman |
It was such a special time meeting the last remaining hunter-gatherers in Africa. I spent all my free time visiting, photographing and talking to the Bushmen, with an interpreter called Madras. I learnt of their plight with the Botswana’s Government; they were no longer allowed to hunt and were being forced off the land to be put into settlements elsewhere. I also found out from a government official that it was against the law to photograph the Bushmen. Later this year the Bushmen go to court in their last stand against the Botswana Government to stay in their Kalahari. What happened to me in Botswana changed my life; it seemed that it did not matter what colour skin you were, there was always some power working against the minority. I treasured my time with the wonderful Bushmen and photographing them inspired me to be a photographer. Out of Africa When my job in the Kalahari finished, I returned to Cape Town. I had decided, whilst out in the desert, that I would travel to England to study photography, as I had a British passport though my Father. I bought a one way ticket, and with two hundred and fifty quid in my pocket, got on a plane for London, Heathrow. Progress was slow for me in London, so I moved to Newcastle where my father’s relatives live. I tried to study, but with my only income coming from a bar wage, it seemed impossible. I met a Geordie girl and through her I managed to get an interview at an evening newspaper on Teesside. I had no qualifications in photography and I had never used a flash in my life, but the picture editor must have seen potential in my early pictures and gave me a job as a trainee press photographer. The north east gave me a chance to live my dream, and I loved meeting its people while working for the paper. I especially enjoyed travelling to obscure country villages and costal towns where one could experience English culture first hand. Cape Town's forgotten children Coming home to South Africa, after working in England and travelling Europe over three years, I found myself comparing what I saw on the streets of Cape Town with what I had been seen on my travels through Europe.
 | | Happy at Highway Homes |
I had seen homelessness in almost all the cities I had been to, but nothing like the gangs of street children of Cape Town. Children, as young as eight years old, were living off the streets. In England, children are protected by law, and the state have a duty of care; but on the streets of Cape Town, they were motherless, sleeping out on the pavements. I was drawn into their lives on the street and spent my few weeks holiday at home photographing them. I also went to a shelter called Highway Homes, a church run support home for street children. They were doing good work but were only skimming the surface of the problem. At the time I did not know what I was going to achieve by photographing the children, but felt led to do it. Looking back, my relationship with the street children of Cape Town has made an impact on the way I think, act and view myself and other people. I know I have grown.
My images of Cape Town’s street children have been exhibited in the public on a number of occasions. I hope they make an impact on the lives of people here too. I really think that we have so much to be thankful for living in the North East. Maybe we should celebrate it more? Your comments Sarah Billimore
it's imterestimg reading this article as I myself am a Capetonian. It's great!The more exposure these kids can get the better. we could all use a little help these days. Lilian Nabulime
South Africa's forgotten children; True! Yve it depends where you set your eyes. Children are suffering too much worldwide and they are not heard. AIDS day, on BBC 2 positive living with AIDS', they featured a street boy from eastern Europe suffering fro AIDS. Many families are affected by poverty and children are on the streets. They seek refuge in bunkers or abandoned houses. The police hunts them to the extent of blowing petrol in the abandoned houses and light them on fire with the children inside! The boy went to visit his friends in the bunker and after some days it was sealed. He wondered where his friends had gone! My senses told me that the the bunker was sealed with the children. In Uganda we have too many children suffering in many ways: AIDS; the war in norther Uganda where children are captured and sold as slaves. May Nations give attention to children. Steven Lomas Brough
Hi Yve , the feature is great . Thank you so much. The people at Highway Home are going to be surprised! | 
