Under Nelson Mandela Boulevard - Christie Sean

Part memoir, part ethnography, Under Nelson Mandela Boulevardis journalist Sean Hunter Christie’s account of time spent amongst the Tanzanian stowaways who live rough under the Nelson Mandela Boulevard flyover, at the foot of Cape Town.

After a year living in South Africa’s most unequal city, the young Zimbabwean is introduced to serial stowaway Adam Bashili, through the photographer David Southwood. This encounter changes everything. Adam introduces Christie to the extraordinary world of the “beachboys”, a multi-port, fourth generation sub-culture of young men from the slums of Dar es Salaam, who came to South Africa with the aim of stowing away on ships bound for other continents.

Under Nelson Mandela Boulevard presents Cape Town as it has not yet been seen: as a series of desperate social margents and cloying controls, but also of unbelievable and somehow hopeful beliefs and survival strategies.

Leading the author on an unprecedented tour of Dar es Salaam’s underworld, followed by a madcap heroin run down Africa’s east coast, Adam leads him to a trail-head of his own: a way beyond his largely perceived oppressions.