Parents
In 2004, when a conversation began among the PEI founders and the people of Ngomano,
the villagers formed a Parents Committee to be active partners and stakeholders in the project.
"You have relieved our parents of the burden of paying school fees and buying books.
In fact we refer to ourselves as the luckiest students on the globe."
Mutala Faith,
Clay Alum
As partners in the project, the Parents Committee organizes all parents of the CISS students
to work 8 hours per month on various campus projects. They also manage and collect funding from
the families for security guards, cooks, the dorm matron, and some food. They help shape school
policy, for example, advocating for a girls dorm which is now a reality. Their input and
commitment is one of the components of the CISS’ success and is proof that parental involvement
shapes a child’s attitude about school. Both students and their parents are passionate about
the school. Parents have made their children’s education a priority – giving up the valuable
labor these students would have provided on their small homestead farms.
