On January 31st, 2025, I received an email that filled my heart with joy, humility, and deep gratitude — I had been selected as a recipient of the prestigious Yoast Care Fund. To say that this moment was surreal would be an understatement. It’s one thing to contribute passionately to something you love; it’s another to be recognized and appreciated for those contributions on a global scale. Being recognized for things you do for Passion and you never thought people are watching is a great privilege

Today, I want to express my sincerest appreciation to Yoast, the wonderful community that nominated and supported me, and the entire WordPress ecosystem that has shaped my professional and personal journey. This blog post is more than just a thank-you — it’s a reflection, a celebration, and an invitation to dream bigger.

What is the Yoast Care Fund?

The Yoast Care Fund was established by Yoast, one of the most impactful companies in the WordPress ecosystem, known for their SEO plugin used by millions of websites globally. Beyond their tools, Yoast is a company deeply rooted in values of openness, contribution, and community.

The Care Fund was created to reward individuals who contribute to WordPress in meaningful but often under-recognized ways — such as community building, documentation, accessibility, translations, and advocacy. On their Site, Yoast says “We value everybody who contributes to WordPress and wish to reward everyone who does so. Of course, we can’t hire everyone, but we can help some people by giving them a gift of €500,- and an interview to say thank you for their time and effort. You can help us with finding those awesome contributors! Nominate the people who work so hard to make WordPress even better so we can reward them.”

Being selected as a recipient is not just an award — it’s a signal that our work matters. It shows that building communities, mentoring others, and making WordPress accessible are just as vital as writing code.

A copy of my interview can be found here

My Journey in the WordPress Community

My name is Moses Cursor Ssebunya, and I proudly call Mukono – Uganda, my home. My journey into WordPress began out of necessity — to build websites and empower local businesses and in so doing earn a living for myself. But what started as a tool quickly became a passion and a purpose. I found something I loved.

Eventually, I founded Cursor Technologies — not just to deliver services but to train, mentor, and uplift young Ugandans through digital skills. With Cursor Technologies we’ve hosted workshops, Meetups, and created a growing community of aspiring developers, writers, and digital entrepreneurs. This later developed into MoCursor the trainer, speaker, mentor, organizer, supporter among all other things.

From Mukono to the World

One of my proudest milestones has been organizing the Mukono WordPress Meetup. We began with just a few passionate individuals, and today, our meetups regularly bring together students, freelancers, bloggers, business owners, and tech enthusiasts both physically and online.

Receiving the Yoast Care Fund recognition validates our grassroots work and proves that local efforts can have global significance. Let’s Keep Going

A Shout-Out to Musangalo JohnBosco

This recognition would not have happened without Musangalo JohnBosco, who nominated me. Your belief in my work and your kind words mean everything. Thank you for being a pillar in this journey. Always to be remembered

Translating WordPress for Greater Impact

I have had the honor of translating WordPress into Luganda and Kiswahili. Language should never be a barrier to participation. Localization opens doors and empowers more people to learn, create, and contribute. Yoast’s recognition of this work shows that translations are not just about words — they are about inclusivity and global access.

The Power of Representation

Being listed among the core contributors for WordPress 6.7 during the State of the Word was another proud moment. Seeing “Uganda” represented on that list reminded me of how far we’ve come — and how much further we can go. Representation matters. It inspires others to believe in their own potential and step up to contribute too.

Community Events & Collaborations

My journey has also taken me beyond Mukono. I’ve contributed to:

• WordCamp Mukono 2025 – as the Lead organizer and community team leader. Working with a great team ensuring all blindspots are covered and hence giving us a bright event
• WordCamp Nairobi 2024 – as an organizer and budget wrangler. Making sure everything was moving smoothly
• Paydel Summit in Uganda – focusing on digital payments and entrepreneurship as an organiser filling gaps everywhere as deemed fit
• Contributor Days – helping onboard new contributors to WordPress

What’s Next?

This award is not an end but a beginning. With the support of the Yoast Care Fund, I plan to:

Expand our WordPress meetups into more towns and rural areas and ensure satisfaction of all attendees. We are focusing on more topics and more contributions. Launch a community translation initiative for themes and plugins. Also pushing the Luganda and Swahili translations further. Targeting is hitting 100% translations

Creating free e-learning resources tailored to East African learners sprouting from Uganda and spreading all over. Making WordPress resources that are easily accessible to have more people come onboard. Mentor underrepresented groups in tech, especially young women and youths.

Contribute more actively to WordPress core, Training, Polyglots, Photos, Community and documentation

Final Words of Thanks

To Yoast – thank you for recognizing and supporting contributors across the globe. Your Care Fund is a light in the open-source world. I can not exhaustively

To the Community especially the WordPress Community in Mukono – this is our win. Your participation, encouragement, and feedback make this journey beautiful. Let’s take this notches higher

To WordPress contributors in Africa – keep going. The world is watching, and your work matters. Let’s continue showing up, speaking up, and contributing. We shall continue sending in our Efforts. The World is watching

And to you, the reader — thank you. Your Support is much appreciated. Whether you’re a beginner or expert, your journey in WordPress is important. Together, we are building the open web — one meetup, one translation, one contribution at a time.

Let’s keep pushing boundaries. The future is bright.