By Nangamso Mabindla
28 September 2007

LIFE should soon be looking up in Mdantsane, where members of the European Audi Design Foundation are exploring ways of improving the lives of the township's residents.

Established in 1997 in Britain, the foundation encourages young designers across the United Kingdom to develop ideas that will improve quality of life in underdeveloped areas around the world.

Through the Design with Substance initiative, in partnership with the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef), the foundation has worked in Brazil and in Khayelitsha in Cape Town. Earlier this year, through the Buffalo City Youth Development Strategy, Mdantsane was identified as the next area where the foundation could assist.

In January a questionnaire was circulated to residents to discover their needs. It found that the three main challenges in Mdantsane were the prevalence of child-headed homes, crime and poor conditions of schools.

Isobel Pollock, from the Audi Design Foundation, said that the questionnaires helped the designers to discover the needs of the people of Mdantsane. In response, three students from the United Kingdom have come up with designs that will help to improve the quality of life in Mdantsane.

"We have with us the three best designs and I am very excited about them. On Friday the students will present their ideas to the people of Mdantsane. We want to get feedback from them so that we know if we need to make improvements on the designs," Pollock said.

Turning her attention to how the projects would help, Pollock said that one design would make doing laundry easier, another focused on making paraffin stoves safer and the last looked at improving safety.

"We will get deeper insight to how they work when the students make a presentation in Mdantsane tomorrow. We are all looking forward to the days we are going to spend here."

Khawulezile Pati, a Buffalo City councillor, thanked the foundation for focusing on Mdantsane. "We hope that these designs and other initiatives will help us in our efforts to [overcome] the problems facing the people of South African and Mdantsane."