In the coming year and beyond, I am determined to expand my livestock by buying more goats. I aim to grow the herd until I can trade them for a dairy cow, which will provide milk for my family and generate additional income. To achieve this, I am committed to saving $20 monthly from the transfers, steadily working toward this vision. This plan not only secures a sustainable source of nourishment and earnings for my family but also ensures a brighter and more stable future.

I am a father of six children, working hard to provide for my family by doing casual jobs like burning charcoal and fetching firewood for sale. With the most recent three transfers, I carefully thought about how to use the money wisely to meet our needs and secure our future. The first thing I did was take my three boys for circumcision, which cost $15. This was an important cultural and health decision, ensuring they grow up healthy and strong. After that, I used $19 to buy food for my family, making sure we had enough to eat and could focus on our daily activities without worry. With the remaining $68, I invested in two goats, adding to the three I already had, making it a total of five. These goats are not just animals; they are my family's safety net for the future. They represent an investment that can grow and provide financial security during tough times. I plan to expand this small herd and use it to pay for school fees and other urgent needs when they arise. These transfers have been a blessing, helping me provide for my family's immediate needs while also building a foundation for a better tomorrow.

I had mentioned before that I wanted to build a new house for my family, as the one we have right now is old and deteriorating and will soon collapse. To achieve this, I intend to use a portion of the transfers I've received and top it up with my earnings from my charcoal-burning hustle and casual jobs. Once the house is complete, I want to start a kiosk business next year using proceeds from my hustles and part of the transfers as well. This business will generate daily income, which will help with our daily family needs. Finally, livestock farming is also a great asset that I have ventured into, and where possible, my plan is to add more of these animals with hopes of them multiplying and increasing in number so that in the future, they will be a great source of income for my family and help in educating my children.

I have always wanted to have something sustainable to take care of my family's and my children's education, especially when this project comes to an end. I therefore ventured into livestock farming and used $55 of my recent transfers from GiveDirectly to buy goats and $20 to buy chickens. As I was buying these animals, I had great hopes of them multiplying and increasing in number and value, thereby providing us with some income in the future. Additionally, I have five school-going children, and to ensure that they attend school and continue with their studies, I paid $8 for school fees and bought them uniforms for $12 because their old ones were worn out and not presentable. Finally, I spent the remaining $7 to buy food for my family, supplementing what we already had. I am happy and grateful for the assistance from GiveDirectly that has given us a chance to secure our future.

I have aspirations to build a new house. The current structure is old and deteriorating, with damaged poles and walls that are on the verge of collapsing. I want a new house with mud walls and at least three rooms, which would significantly improve our living conditions. Also, I aim to start a kiosk business in the future. This venture would serve as a reliable source of income, supporting my efforts to provide for my three children. I believe that a business would offer more stability and guaranteed income compared to the casual jobs I currently undertake, such as making charcoal.

I utilized the cash transfers to cover the school fees for my three children, addressing a debt that had accrued that month by allocating $30 toward clearing it. I'm pleased that this ensured my children could continue their education without any interruptions. After that, I invested $20 in purchasing ten chickens and $30 in acquiring a goat. With these additions, I now have a total of five goats and ten hens, all obtained through the cash transfers. My ultimate aim is to exchange these animals for cows, which will serve multiple purposes such as agricultural activities like plowing and providing milk for domestic consumption. I spent the remaining amount to buy food for my family. Currently, I rely on occasionally making and selling charcoal. However, with the onset of the rainy season, I have shifted my focus to agriculture. During this period, the cash transfers have played a crucial role in covering my children's school fees and providing food as I work on my farm.

My primary objective is to acquire cows for farming and milk production, a move that promises to broaden our sources of income. This not only allows me to sell milk but also rent out the cows during the planting season, which would enhance the stability of our earnings. Additionally, I have plans to open a small shop in my village where I can sell essential commodities. Simultaneously, I intend to renovate my deteriorating house. I am committed to saving and utilizing the financial transfers to realize these goals. The opportunity provided has already brought significant improvements to our lives, and I am profoundly grateful for it.

GiveDirectly transfers have greatly benefited my family of eight and changed our lives for the better. Previously, I relied on charcoal sales for our livelihood, but a prolonged drought hampered my output, making it difficult to provide for my family. I'm grateful and delighted that these transfers have significantly boosted our income as my wife and I combine our transfers to cover our expenses. Moreover, I'm pleased to share that these monthly transfers have enabled me to invest in 10 chickens and 6 goats, which I plan to sell for a profit later. I allocated $60 to purchase 6 chickens and 1 goat, which I intend to raise and sell in case of unexpected emergencies. Additionally, I used $15 to buy new clothes for my six children, as most of their clothing was in poor condition. Furthermore, I spent $18 on food, as our harvested supplies had already run out, and we needed sustenance. The remaining funds were used to settle school fees balances, ensuring a smooth continuation of my kids' education.

As I continue to receive my transfer, I have a goal of adding more goats. They grow fast and will be beneficial to my family in the long run. Once I raise ten goats, I will prioritize selling them to buy a cow. So far, I do not have a single cow. I have never raised one in my lifetime due to my low income. I hope to realize that dream as I continue to receive my transfers.

For the past four months, I have been spending my money on buying goats and domestic fowl. I prioritized doing that with the hope that when the program comes to an end, I will be able to have what to rely upon. As my flock grows, I will sell some of them to acquire a lactating cow and oxen. From this kind of investment, I will freely obtain milk for the family. The oxen in the long run will help me inploughing my farm during planting seasons. As a result, they save me the cost of hiring someone to work for me on the farm.

Because of the meager income my wife and I realize from burning and selling charcoal, we have been thinking about other alternative income sources. Therefore, as I continue to receive my transfer this year, my primary goal is to raise a herd of cattle. This goal comes second to supporting my children's education. I have five goats that I have bought with the previous transfers. However, I aim to buy more before the current ones begin to reproduce. I would wish to build a new house. The current one is old, and one side is falling off. It will shield my family from extreme weather conditions due to unpredictable weather patterns.

Neither my wife nor I have a reliable source of income. We depend on charcoal burning and selling to sustain our large family of eight members. Immediately after I received my recent transfer, I spent $20 on six domestic fowls. I did that to boost my poultry project. I am glad it is doing well since I have 20 fully grown hens. I can sell them to raise an additional income. From it, I aim to begin keeping goats and later raise cows. Because I had fee arrears for my three school-going children, I prioritized spending $10 on their school fees. As a result, they have been able to focus on their studies. Lastly, I spent $4 on foodstuff to meet the family's nutritional needs.

Upon receiving my transfer, I opted to settle for a goat-rearing project where I purchased 4 goats for $31. I then bought 2 hens at $9. I am married and blessed with six children, therefore; I used $6 on my children's school fees and finally, used the remaining $44 on foodstuffs. All this was not possible due to financial constraints thus, I am grateful for the support that lifted my living standards.

Ever since I got enrolled into GiveDirectly, I decided that each time I receive the transfers I would invest in growing my farm and buying more farm animals. So each time I got the transfers I bought a goat and so far I have three goats, so when the recent transfers came in I decided to add one more goat making them four. The goat cost me about KES 2,500. The reason as to why I an purchasing the goats is that I want to rear and breed them so that in case of financial emergencies I can always offer them up for sell but eventually I would want to purchase a cow so that it could help me plough the land during the rainy season. Afterwards I was left with about KES 500 which I ended up using it to pay school fees for two of my children since they had been kicked out of school and had been home for about two days.

In my opinion, Give Directly does well in giving money to people greatly affected by poverty. With every transfer received, I get a chance to satisfy the family’s basic needs. I remain hopeful for the transformation to be realized from the upcoming transfers. I fail to see any wrongdoing from Give Directly.

Paying the children’s school fees is the first thing I anticipate to fulfill whenever I receive any amount of cash. Therefore, I spent most of my transfers on settling all outstanding fee balances amounting to KES 1100. The rest of the money went towards securing a goat worth KES 2,500 and buying food for the family at KES 400.

I was at home resting after coming from cutting down firewood to sell when I receive the funds from give directly. At the time, my children had not been attending school for a week due to school fee areas. I immediately went to withdraw the money and early the next morning, I took my children back to school. I paid half of the arrears so they may be allowed back to class I felt relieved

I can at least acknowledge that my life has been uplifted ever since I started receiving these funds. In that, I have paid off some of my debts and I am now more of an optimist. I also have a plan of buying a goat. I am grateful for these funds

My four school-going children had already been home for 7 days now when I received the funds. This was as a result of school fees arrears of KES1600. So, I used KES800 to reduce the bill and have the children allowed back to class. I also did not have any food at the time. Therefore, I used the remaining KES100 to buy food for my family. During this time, my charcoal business was not doing well and. in a day, I make around KES300 or sometimes nothing. This hasn't been enough for my family of six children