I live in an old mud house. Receiving transfers from Givedirectly transfers gave me the dream to want a brick house. I have been saving transfers monthly from time time to my local savings group. I want to accumulate enough of this cash to allow me build the new house. I now have 5 iron sheets for the house and hope to buy more from my group savings as well as additional transfers that I will continue to receive.

Givedirectly helped me improve the state of my business. I had started a shop before I got enrolled in the program, it was a small shop and was struggling to stay afloat. When I got the cash transfers I was able to reinvest into the business. I reinvested $34 from my recent transfers into the business. I was also able to save $15 to my savings group, I spent $19 paying school fees for my child, I also spent $20 in buying food as well as $14 in buying clothes during the festive season.

In the upcoming year, my primary goal is to acquire a permanent residence. To attain this objective, I aim to accumulate sufficient funds from my future transfers to finance all the necessary construction materials for the house. Additionally, I intend to expand my livestock holdings and enhance my livestock trading enterprise to generate a substantial income. I am deeply thankful for the assistance and express my sincere gratitude to Give Directly for their generous support.

I saved a significant portion of my transfers, setting aside $40 as savings. To further grow our funds, my family and I established a small group consisting of close relatives and family members. Each member contributed a monthly fee of $20 for a set period, and the accumulated sum was subsequently distributed among the participants at the end of this period. The money saved within the group is earmarked for the construction of a durable brick house, as my current dwelling, constructed from mud, is highly susceptible to damage during the rainy season, rendering it unsuitable for habitation. Additionally, I utilized a portion of the funds to settle my son's primary school fees, amounting to $14 in arrears. With $4 remaining, I intend to clear this balance at the commencement of the next school year. Furthermore, I allocated a portion of the funds to procure food for my family, ensuring that they never went to bed hungry. I am deeply appreciative of the transfers, as they are instrumental in realizing my aspiration of owning a permanent residence.

Access to mobile money services has become a challenge for people in my village, especially with the rising demand driven by the cash transfers. They have to walk at least an hour to find a mobile money outlet. So, I aim to register as an agent to bridge this gap and provide a much-needed service to the community. Besides, I see the potential for this business to boost my income and create better opportunities for providing for my three children. To accomplish this, I estimate that I will require a starting capital of approximately $500. My plan is to continue setting aside money until I reach the desired amount to kick-start the agent business.

I utilized part of the cash transfer to pay off my child's school fees in kindergarten, and I am delighted that her education has not been interrupted to date. With $15, I successfully cleared the outstanding fees, ensuring her continued attendance at school. I spent $14 to boost the stock in my kiosk business, and I am elated to see the positive results it has yielded. Since I began using the cash transfers to enhance my business, I have witnessed remarkable improvements in profits. Though not up to the standard I desire, this has given me the ability to better provide for the daily needs of my three children. In addition to improving my business, I have established a norm of saving at least $5 from the transfers through a self-help group for future business expansion. The cash transfers are indeed a valuable lifeline for me and my family, allowing my children to stay in school and also expand my shop.

My main goal that I would like to accomplish is to have a better house. The house that I currently live in is a bit small considering the size of the family that I have. I would want to save a greater percentage of my monthly transfers and before the end of the this year, I believe that the amount of money that I shall have saved would be enough to start me off.

I currently have a small retail store where I sell a variety of items and it had always been my wish to boost it up so that I would maximize profits, but due to the lack of money, I had never gotten a chance to. Luckily, the transfers that I recently received was of great help and I managed to restock goods worth KES.3000. Also with the lack of enough money and having a family in place, I managed to buy food wood worth KES.470 of the remaining amount, and thanks a lot to GiveDirectly for the great amazing support.

I'd love to open a food kiosk where I could sell things like maize flour, bread, tea bags, sugar, cereals, and milk. I am a farmer of livestock. I keep over 20 goats, 5 bulls, and over 10 hens. When it comes to feeding my family, my livestock has always been useful. I do occasionally sell some of the animals, which helps me to pay the bills and feed my family. The bulls I use to till other people's land also bring in money for me. My primary motivation for starting a business is that the income I receive from raising livestock is insufficient to cover all of my expenses. I will be able to fully support my family and be financially secure as a result of starting this business.

In an unofficial savings group, I set aside $30 from the previous three months' payments with the intention of using my shares to launch a mobile money shop. Our village is around an hour's walk from the closest mobile money store. This makes it a profitable business idea, and I am hoping that after I launch it, I will attract additional customers. It will be simple for me to integrate the mobile money into the current business as I already own a retail store in the area where I sell a variety of foodstuffs. I restocked the store with the transfers from the previous two months. I'm relieved that it is gradually producing because my husband and I, along with our two kids, have been able to make ends meet with the income from it.

I opened up a business about two years ago because I needed more assistance in helping with day to day needs of my family since I barely had a job. Therefore I opened up a store where I sold a couple of items which included maize flour, sugar and cooking oil just to mention a few. I was lucky enough to get enrolled to the program especially since I used the transfers that I recently received to help keep my business afloat. I therefore used KES 2,000 to add to the stock in my business. I was left with about KES 1,000 which I decided to use on nourishment for my family and I because there was barely any food in my house, so I bought five packets of maize flour.

I would like to commend GiveDirectly for giving me the unconditional transfers that have given me hope in the continuity of my business. I have had no peace of mind since I started losing my customers. Thanks to the funds, I am optimistic that my business will recover. I would like the organization to consider increasing the amount they send to us every month. This will ensure we live up to the high cost of living presently at the moment.

After unsuccessfully looking for a job, I opted to set up a small kiosk business from my little savings (KSH 5000). The major challenge I have been facing since setting up the business is the lack of enough stock to keep up with the demand. This has since made me lose customers because of the unreliability in supplying essential items. Losing customers has dealt a colossal blow to my income and thus I cannot provide essential needs (food) for my family (wife and 2 children). Immediately after I received my transfer of KES 3000, I spent it all on buying more stock (maize flour, sugar, and tea leaves) for the business. This will ensure that I win back the customers I lost by meeting the demand for the items they need.

In my village, water is a problem. So, we walk far to fetch water and to do so we use a donkey to aid with transportation. Per trip, I will be able to bring home two 20litre jerricans of water and it will take about 50min. When I was on my way to fetch water, I got the message that I had received some funds from give directly. I felt happy. I went to fetch water as I planned then I headed home to plan on how to use the funds. Two days later, I concluded that I will invest some money in my business and buy food with the rest.

I am a father of two, a 2year old and 2.5-year-old. Being the sole breadwinner, it has been quite a challenge to meet my family's needs. After I started receiving the funds, I have not been straining as much because my business has been well ever since I invested in it. I still have plans of investing more funds to make it even better.

I own a grocery shop that serves as my source of income. My daily wage is around KES700. This is what has helped with the family bills. Since my two children have not yet started school, I have not had the pressure of paying school fees. So, when I received the funds from give directly, I saw it best to invest KES800 from it in my business. The remaining KES400, I used on my food budget