Building Classrooms Together on Remba Island
At Remba Comprehensive School on Remba Island, Homa Bay County, Kenya, our work alongside the community contributed to the construction of two Memusi classrooms. By bringing together locally available resources and PFP’s support, the project helped expand learning spaces for pupils and demonstrates how working alongside communities can turn shared priorities into practical solutions.
The original Memusi classroom concept was developed by the UK-based Memusi Foundation to make better use of locally available materials. We adapted the design for Remba in collaboration with a local architect, creating a classroom design intended to make better use of these materials while providing cooler learning spaces.
We constructed the classrooms in response to the pressure on existing learning spaces. Before their construction, learners were studying in smaller, crowded classrooms, including structures made from iron sheets. These conditions limited the space available for comfortable learning, making additional classroom facilities an important investment in the school.
We made use of resources already available on Remba Island to construct the classrooms. Drawing on the island’s rocky landscape, community members collected and provided stones for the construction. These stones became part of the building materials, reducing the need to source materials from elsewhere and helping lower construction costs.
Community members also fetched water from the lake and carried it to the construction site, contributing their time and labour to the building process.
Our Memusi construction design used stone-filled wire mesh in sections of the walls, incorporating the locally collected stones into the structure.
However, using local materials also meant accounting for the conditions in which the classrooms would stand. Remba Island is exposed to strong winds, so the walls could not be made entirely of stone-filled wire mesh. The buildings therefore combine conventional masonry at the lower sections with stone-filled wire mesh in other parts of the walls, alongside reinforcement pillars designed to strengthen the structures against strong winds.
PFP contributed towards the additional construction materials, labour and structural requirements needed to complete the buildings. This included supporting the reinforcement pillars and other requirements necessary to strengthen the structures.
The impact can be seen in the learners who now use the new classrooms. The two Memusi classrooms serve 122 learners in Grades 1 and 2, comprising 54 learners in Grade 1 and 68 in Grade 2. These classes were prioritised because of their high enrolment and the pressure this placed on their previous learning spaces. With more room available, the new classrooms have helped ease congestion and create more suitable conditions for teaching and learning.
The investment in classroom space at Remba Comprehensive School has also extended beyond the Memusi classrooms. The work PFP undertook in building the two classrooms was matched by the Sub-County Member of Parliament and the county department responsible for education, who built two additional classrooms serving PP1 and PP2 pupils under the Operation Ondoa Debe initiative. This brought the total to four additional classrooms, reflecting how different partners can contribute towards a shared educational priority.
Across the school, enrolment stands at 574 learners, comprising 276 boys and 298 girls. The additional classrooms form part of the wider effort to provide these learners with suitable spaces for education, while the Memusi classrooms offer a specific example of how local participation and external support can work together to address infrastructure needs.
The project reflects our Handshakes not Handouts approach in practice, demonstrating what shared investment can achieve when contributions are built around a common goal. By bringing together local resources, community participation and PFP’s support, the project has helped create more space for learning and a better learning environment for pupils.
Your support can help us create more pathways to stronger futures in Remba through education, skills and shared investment.https://www.goodhub.com/go/rembaislandpfp
