When Cecelia was a young girl, she had big dreams for her future. She wanted to build a family, put food on the table, and break the cycle of poverty. She wanted to give her kids opportunities that she didn’t have.

Then, when Cecelia was only a teenager, she had a baby. She was forced to drop out of primary school and stay home with her child. Her big dreams were impossibly out of reach.

Cecelia needed help, and she found it with Opportunity International’s business training program. She shared her bold hopes for her family—things like a cement floor, an iron roof, and three meals a day—and she learned how she could receive the training and assistance she needed to start and manage her own business.

It was a path out of poverty—and it’s powered by people like YOU. When you support The Rise, you give women like Cecelia the opportunity to transform their futures. You give her essentials like a food stipend, financial training, business skills, and a head start with livestock that will help her earn an income. You help put her dreams within reach.

Because of people like you, Cecelia now raises goats and makes bricks. She sells dried fish and produce, too. And she’s working to improve her home, her daily life, and her children’s futures.