"As with all projects like this, it's beginnings were humble"

Ruan Mulder was the editor for The Mamelodi Voice 2011. He wrote a brief note on his experience as editor of The Mamelodi Voice.

It’s not often that one gets to be involved in a project with such far reaching effects such as The Mamelodi Voice. When I got asked to be Editor, I obviously had ideas of where I would’ve liked the paper to go but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine how big it would become.

As with all projects like this, its beginnings were humble. As a second year group we went into the unknown and discovered things we’d never thought we’d find. Not only were we lucky enough to discover what the community of Mamelodi had to offer, but we got to discover parts of ourselves that we didn’t know existed.  Our group was passionate and full of talent and as a result the stories and photographs we had were top notch and gave the readers a true insight into the community of Mamelodi. This allowed us the opportunity to put together a truly insightful paper.

The process was an arduous one that took many hours. We struggled with putting something together that none of us have ever done, a believable newspaper, but after late nights and many brainstorming sessions it started to flow. The turning point for us was the day we had our first full draft. Suddenly ideas were flowing and the paper started looking like something we would be proud of.  Before we knew it, it was the day before the paper needed to go to print. That final day we left the University at 6am the day of print,  exhausted but completely content because we had pulled together as a team and produced an amazing project.

The Mamelodi Voice has gone on to become an annual feature and allows Journalism students from the University of Pretoria to be a part of something that not only features their skills as young budding journalists but allows them to bring a little soulful part of Mamelodi to every reader it reaches.