The Broken Mendi: A Journey of Sacrifice and the Unconquerable Spirit
Two soldiers of the South African Native Labour Corps during a 'war dance' and sports day.Brooks, Ernest (Lieutenant) (Photographer) Afolabi's Journey: A Boy's Journey from Orphan to Storyteller The harmattan wind whipped across the savanna, carrying the scent of dry earth and unspoken anxieties. A lone figure, barely thirteen summers old, huddled beneath the skeletal branches of a thorn acacia. Afolabi, orphaned by a brutal tribal conflict, clutched a worn cloth doll, a last reminder of his stolen childhood. He was one of many, young men and women snatched from their villages across Africa, their futures rewritten by the harsh reality of war. News of the "great work" had traveled like wildfire, promising adventure and a chance to fight for King and country. But Afolabi, naivety cloaked by a veil of fear, understood the truth - they were replacements, cheap labor to be thrown into the meat grinder of the Great War. He had seen the disdainful looks from the whi
