Jeanette Amisi Muibi will graduate from Portland State University this June with a degree in Public Health Studies: Community Health Promotion, and a minor in Child, Youth, and Family Studies. This milestone will bring her one step closer to her dreams and add another accomplishment to the impressive list of things she’s achieved so far.
Muibi was born in Nyarugusu refugee camp in Tanzania. When she was nine years old, she immigrated to the United States and enrolled in school for the first time.
“When I was younger, my days were filled with a lot of other responsibilities that taught me to care for my family and my community. But deep down, school was my passion,” she says. “When I came to the U.S., I finally had access to education. I could pursue whatever I wanted to pursue in life.”
Muibi started her college education at Portland Community College as a Health Promotion major, then transferred to Portland State in the fall of 2020. But shortly after, and in the midst of the pandemic, she faced a series of obstacles — including isolation, an experience of violent assault and a lack of stable housing — that almost forced her to drop out.
“It was very difficult,” she says. “But I was like, let me give myself this chance. I really do love learning, and whenever I think of who I want to be in life, education is a big part of where I want to be.”
Muibi reached out to her professors for help. Her advisor Brian Paez helped her build a schedule of classes and create a plan for graduation. She also got connected to on-campus resources, including the Women’s Resource Center. These supports helped her refocus on school.
In one of her classes, Program Plan Eval, taught by Marisa Westbrook, students designed community-based projects, then applied for grants for potential funding. Muibi mapped out a plan for a women’s support group, applied for a grant and won. The funding allowed her to turn her idea into a real nonprofit, which she named Empowered by Jeanette.
In the nonprofit, Muibi guides groups of women in journaling exercises designed to help them find their strengths, dreams and personal journeys. “I’m so proud of it,” she says. “We started off with eight people. Now there are 24. People have a space where they can feel appreciated and heard, and connect with others.”
Outside of school, Muibi works as a community health worker and birth doula, and specializes in working with Black women. “I’m very passionate about maternal health,” she says. “I work with pregnant women who are refugees, asylum seekers, immigrants or new to the country. I help get them connected to resources, like WIC.”
She sees this work as connected to her study of Public Health, and says her experiences in and outside the classroom build upon one another. “Doing this work has given me confidence within the classroom. And I bring my academic knowledge into whatever I do [outside it],” she says.
Muibi will begin a Masters in Public Health in Health Promotion at the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health in the fall, and has big ambitions for her next steps.
“I hope to use my public health degree to advance [Empowered by Jeanette] into something that can benefit the community,” she says. “There is so much need.” She envisions adding programming like movement or somatic therapy to help participants feel grounded and safe within their bodies, and find a sense of calm.
Her advice to current students? “You might feel that imposter syndrome, like you don’t belong in this space, especially if you’re first generation — that’s how I felt. [But] you belong. You belong at PSU, you belong in that classroom. You are worthy of education.”
She adds, “My mindset changed over time, but only because I had to believe in myself. I had to put myself out there, ask questions, show up. I had to create a community and not isolate myself on one little island.”
Looking back on it all, Muibi says, “I guess now I can say I’m okay. Things are turning out great.”