Students make a difference in a West African village

Alongside villagers, members of the Cameroon Catalyst team designed a sustainable housing scheme this summer to combat problems with ventilation, leaks and mosquitoes. Aided by experts at Article 25 and Arup International, the students used local materials to come up with an innovative mud brick house with triangular shaped windows for improved structural performance, rendered flooring to reduce the spread of diseases and jali walls to increase ventilation. They also included rainwater harvesting and a latrine to improve sanitation. The students hope it will lead to further developments in the village and elsewhere in Cameroon. Bambouti’s’s nurse has now moved into her new home and is delighted with it “My house is like a mirror in the village, because everyone loves it and could see themselves living in it…” she says,

Since 2009 the Cameroon Catalyst team has been working with Mosame Trust, a local non-governmental organisation to deliver a pilot sustainable development model in Bambouti. They are now planning to apply this model in other villages and expand across the north east of Cameroon. During the summer, students held a seminar in the nearby town of Bertoua to present their vision for rural development.