Eddie Memorial Primary School

The elementary school is located on Rusinga Island on a hill overlooking Lake Victoria. The school has 422 students and offers classes from pre-school to grade eight. The school is located on very barren land that has been severely eroded by wind and water over the years. There are no trees, and the soil is extremely rocky. The exposure has even caused the roof of two of the classrooms to be destroyed on two separate occasions. This has made teaching at the school even more difficult.

As a result, the community gathered and decided to plant trees to prevent further erosion and destruction of the school buildings. Parents therefore started to raise funds, and they managed to buy a water tank in 2018 to ensure that the trees would be watered even during the dry season. But they still lacked funds to install the tank as well as the gutters to collect water during the rainy season.

On the area, now fenced, 6,000 trees could be planted. A first tree planting event took place on September 2, 2020. KWEPU Nursery donated 700 tree seedlings, which were planted by 65 students. Teachers, parents and community members also participated, grateful to have finally reached the point where they can begin to rehabilitate the area and secure the school.