Remote, arid, and full of extraordinary people.
The region.
Magadi is a small town in Kenya's Kajiado County, situated in the Great Rift Valley approximately 100km south-west of Nairobi. It sits at the edge of Lake Magadi — one of East Africa's largest salt lakes — in a landscape that is harsh, beautiful, and largely overlooked.
The region is predominantly inhabited by the Maasai — a semi-nomadic community with a deeply held culture and identity. Economic activity is limited, infrastructure is sparse, and access to quality education has historically been almost non-existent for children in the most remote communities.
It is exactly the kind of place where the difference between a good school and no school is the difference between a child's future and the absence of one.
A community that has been underserved by the education system.
The community.
The Maasai are one of Kenya's most recognised communities — known for their distinctive dress, their pastoralist traditions, and a deep connection to the land that stretches back generations. They are also a community that has been consistently underserved by national education infrastructure, with schools sparse, resources scarce, and access to quality teaching historically limited.
Girls face some of the steepest barriers to staying in education. Long distances to school, inadequate sanitary provision, and limited secondary infrastructure mean dropout rates remain alarmingly high. Barely one in five girls who start school in this region make it to year eight — not because their families don't value education, but because the system has consistently failed to make it accessible.
Memusi has worked alongside these communities for over twenty years — not imposing from outside, but building relationships, earning trust, and backing the passion of people who believe their children deserve better. Every school we support was started by the community itself.
Two beacon schools. Built by the community. Run for the community.
Our schools.
Memusi A and Memusi B are not just schools — they are markers of quality for the entire Magadi region. What works here gets shared freely with every school in our network.
Memusi A
The original Memusi school. Built in Oldonyonyokie with the community it serves in 2003, starting with a single pencil and a belief that education could change the direction of a community. Twenty years later it is a thriving school with 340 students, a science lab named in memory of late Head Teacher Solomon, a music room, shade houses, and Kenya's Competency-Based Curriculum delivered in full.
In 2025, Memusi A's first Junior Secondary cohort sat their Grade 9 exams — a milestone that marks over two decades of unbroken commitment to this community. Thirty percent of that cohort scored Very Strong or Exceptional.
Memusi B
Larger than Memusi A and just as full of children who are passionate about learning. Memusi B in Pakase, Shampole and serves 600 students across 20 classrooms, with Grade 8 classrooms currently under construction as part of the Junior Secondary expansion.
In 2025 Memusi B successfully administered the KPSA National Examinations — with candidates described by Head Teacher David as well prepared, confident, and disciplined. The school is supported by 39 teachers and continues to grow its co-curricular programme in sports, music, and community engagement.
Beyond our own schools.
The wider network.
Our two schools are the foundation — but Memusi's ambition has always been to influence the quality of education across the entire Magadi region. Through our Outreach programme we work with 42 primary schools and Early Childhood Development centres across the ward.
The Teacher Resource Centre, launched in 2018, gives neighbouring schools access to resources they'd otherwise never have. Healthcare camps, AfriPads provision, de-worming and vitamin programmes reach children across every school in the network. What we learn at Memusi A and B, we share freely.
The principle is simple: a rising tide. If we can demonstrate what a well-resourced, well-supported school looks like, and share everything we learn, the impact is multiplied far beyond the children in our own classrooms.
42
Schools and ECD centres in the Magadi network.
8,000+
Children supported across the entire Magadi ward.
2018
Year Memusi launched the Teacher Resource Centre for neighbouring schools.
12,000+
Children reached per round of the de-worming and vitamin programme.
A second geography.
The same belief.
Nairobi.
Since 2019, Memusi has also worked with street-connected children and families in Nairobi — a deliberate extension of our mission into a very different context. Where Magadi is rural and educational, Nairobi is urban and immediate: hunger, instability, and social invisibility are the presenting challenges rather than school access.
The two programmes are geographically and operationally distinct. But they are guided by the same belief — that every child deserves to be seen, supported, and given a genuine chance to thrive. Our work in Nairobi keeps us grounded in what happens when early support is absent. Our work in Magadi shows what becomes possible when it isn't.
"One responds to crisis in an urban environment. The other invests in prevention and opportunity in a rural setting. Both are part of the same story."
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