
Pheobean Odongo grew up with 10 siblings in Koru, a tiny settlement in Kisumu County, Kenya. She loved school—and not just because she’s smart and passionate about learning.
“We are a large family, and the only way to survive in a large family that has no money is to be educated. Nothing else,” Odongo said. “That motivated me. I wanted to make it in life. I wanted to make my mom proud, and to get them out of poverty.”
An answer, she thought, came in an invitation to enroll in a national high school. Her test scores were high enough; her finances were not. She looked for scholarships to no avail. Her principal then contacted the principal at Jane Adeny Memorial School (JAMS)—and a door, and a future, opened.
Odongo is now an NIU master’s student in biological sciences, inspired to become a Huskie by the College of Education’s Teresa Wasonga, who with her husband, the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology’s Andrew Otieno, founded, built and, in 2011, launched JAMS.
The couple wanted to give girls in their home country the joy, empowerment and freedom to succeed. To think critically. To engage in classroom discussion rather than listening to lectures. To learn without threat of punishment. To determine their own hopes and dreams. To contribute. To, simply, be themselves.
“JAMS was my home away from home,” said Odongo, who received a graduate teaching assistantship with a tuition waiver and living stipend. “The teachers are so friendly. And it’s not just about education. It’s holistic growth for all the women there.”

Odongo spoke glowingly of Wasonga.
“She (Wasonga) was my role model. When a woman makes it in this community, it’s such a big thing. I’m like, ‘boys make it, but we can make it also.’ And NIU students and her colleagues would come to my school, and I was motivated. ‘I have to go to this NIU,’” she thought.
After finishing Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology with a B.S. in genomic sciences, she was ready. And she wasn’t the first: JAMS alumna Revela Odhuno earned her NIU nursing degree in 2021. For Wasonga and Otieno, who tucked away money from every paycheck and obtained a home equity loan to realize their dream, results justify the sacrifices. JAMS has graduated more than 350 young women.
“Having gone through the school system myself, I understood the things I liked and didn’t like,” Wasonga said. “When I had an opportunity to do this, I went back to my childhood and said, ‘What would I have liked?’”
Otieno hopes that JAMS girls can see what he now knows: “Everything is possible.”
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