Uganda

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I originally formed Becoming a Cupcake Non-Profit with the thought of providing "Scholarships & Mentoring Empowering Women Globally to seek Education, Business & Other Opportunities," a rather general mandate with a thought of supporting Gloria (a women I sent to college in Zambia) and other women I came across in my travels. However, when Gloria returned to her native South Sudan in April 2021 her family withheld her passport and her other documents so she could not travel and began making plans to force her into an unwanted marriage.  Gloria's dreams were at-risk.  At 26 and newly graduated from college she dreamed of starting a first job, getting a little place for herself, earning her own money, potentially setting up a non-profit to help empower other women who hadn't been so lucky to receive a college education.  Instead she faced an all-too-common prospect - marriage for a dowry, forcible pregnancy, life in a remote village with no job prospects or financial support from a husband.  After Gloria's ordeal the women's empowerment mission of Becoming a Cupcake has become much more real.  

And so we're starting our first initiative in Uganda where we believe we can affect broader change and help Gloria out along the way.  The plan? We're going to open up a wedding rentals business where women like Gloria can work.