I heavily rely on my husband who works as an ironer to provide for the family, but his salary scarcely meets all our needs. Thus, the transfers proved useful especially in keeping the children in school as the administration had denied them room unless pending balances were settled. I directed KES 6,000 from the recent transfers towards clearing unpaid school fees and the children happily resumed studies. I am grateful because through the cash program, my daughter is currently sitting for her national form four examinations, and my son is officially enrolled in kindergarten. I also used KES 1000 to acquire food, KES 500 to buy a hen, and KES 1500 to secure a goat to rear and increase my sources of income.

I used my transfer in paying school fees and food for my family of 7 members.I paid Kes 1000 as part of the school fees for my primary school children because am expected to pay kes 1300 per term for each one and they are 3 on total.I paid kes 1000 for the older child who is in Form four and bought food with the remaining Kes 1000.

Well I think give directly does well in terms of giving us unconditional cash transfers to help us out. This is good as we can plan how best we are going to use the money to enrich and uplift our lives for the better. It is with the money that we can be able to engage in different projects that will earn us a living.

Owning livestock is a symbol of prestige in our culture. I have always wanted to own several but due to the climatic and also financial challenges that have never been possible. Some of my neighbors owned a large number of cows, goats, and sheep some time ago. With the harsh climatic weather condition we have been experiencing in the past three years, many of them have lost most of their livestock. The only surviving species is the goat because it is a grazer. When I received the transfer I spent KSH 1500 buying a goat.  I also spent KSH 1000 buying food for the family. Getting money to buy food at this time is very challenging due to the economic challenges. For the rest of the money, I used it to pay exams fees for my children who were about to sit for their exams.

While on the farm at around 10 am I heard my phone ringing. I did not bother to look at it since I assumed it was a Safaricom text message. After finishing my work at the farm I headed back home and my youngest child alerted me that I had received some cash. I did not take any action at that time since I thought the money might have been sent to my number by mistake. Later that evening my eldest son came home and told me he had received cash from GiveDirectly. I showed him the text on my phone and he confirmed that I too I had received the cash. I was very happy.

The cash has made a big difference in my life in that my son I able to continue with his education in college and at the same time I will have food in my house. The other interesting thing is that I now have two chickens and I am looking forward to the time I will have more than 500 chickens in number and this will be courtesy of cash from GiveDirectly that will have enabled me to achieve all this.

 I do not have a stable job at the moment and I survive mostly on small manual jobs to the current living conditions we are leaving in. I am a woman who wants to see my children go to school and get a good education so that they can have a good life in the future. My eldest child completed his secondary education and was fortunate enough to attract a sponsor and is currently in college. Before I received the funds he needed some amount that would cater for his food and also transport to go back to college. When I received the amount from Give Directly I spent KSH 2000 on him so that I could facilitate his wellbeing at school. I also spent KSH 500 on food since I had no food left in the house. In addition to the food, I also spent KSH 500 on buying 2 chickens. The chicken I bought will greatly help me when they multiply in numbers. I will be able to sell some and the money I get will be used to cater to my family's needs.