I recently completed a tailoring class, where my husband, who is currently a tailor, trained me extensively in clothes-making. Now, I am eager to purchase a sewing machine to launch my own tailoring shop. My goal is to establish this shop so that both my husband and I can contribute jointly towards achieving our goals in life and providing our family a good life they deserve.

I am a mother of three children, and with the recent transfer, I spent $32 to purchase a new mattress. The old mattresses my children were using had worn out, so I wanted them to have a comfortable place to sleep. Additionally, I spent $10 on their studies to ensure they aren't sent home from school. Currently, I have four goats. With part of the transfers, I used $34 to purchase another goat. Investing in goats is wise because they can multiply quickly, and I can sell them if unexpected expenses arise, like school fees. I also have eight chickens, and I spent $14 to purchase four more, increasing my flock. Chickens are profitable as they multiply, providing a source of income when sold. Finally, with the remaining $12 from the transfers, I bought food for my family for the week.

With the GiveDirectly cash support, my goal is to clear the debt and acquire the tailoring machine, after which I will partner with my husband in a tailoring business. Together, we aim to provide for our family's needs and ensure our children receive the education they deserve. As our family grows, we plan to expand our current house, creating a more comfortable environment. With determination and the assistance we've received, I believe we can achieve these and secure a brighter future for our family.

With the recent cash transfer I received, I paid $25 towards settling the debt on a tailoring machine, an investment for my upcoming tailoring business. I have decided to shift from charcoal burning, which has become less profitable due to the scarcity of trees, to tailoring, a more sustainable business for our family of three children. With $35 from the transfer, I purchased a new mattress to replace our worn-out one. I then bought a goat at $34 for our future income generation. After covering these expenses, I had $8 left, which I spent on buying food for our household. Life has taken a positive turn since we began receiving these transfers. We can now afford essential items and have food, which was a struggle before. I'm deeply thankful for this opportunity, it has enhanced our family's well-being.

The goal that I have at the moment is to finish paying for my sewing machine that I bought in installment. After this, I am planning to rent a shop where I will be operating from. Currently, I am being taught how to sew clothes by my husband who is also a tailor. I settled on starting a tailoring job since after watching my husband sew clothes, I have developed some passion in sewing and it is my wish to be a popular designer in my region.

I depend on burning charcoal and selling them for livelihood. With the money that I get from this work and my transfers, I usually support my spouse in paying for some of our bills. From the recent transfers, I spent $ 28 to pay school fees for our child who had been sent back home and my husband did not have money to spare. In addition, I used $ 30 to pay for a deposit of a sewing machine and used $ 4 as my transport when going to pick it. I'll be paying the remaining amount in monthly installments. I settled on buying a sewing machine since it has always been my desire to be self employed. Watching my husband sew and mend clothes always has also helped me develop some passion in sewing and I hope that I will be a great designer one day. Aside from this, I used $ 20 to hire the services of oxen to help in land preparation purposes in readiness for planting. Using the remaining amount, I bought two chicken at $ 8 as a way of investing this money and spent $ 12 on food to last my family for some time.

In the past, I faced financial difficulties that compelled me to take on various jobs such as selling charcoal, working as a farm laborer, and even selling cooked food. However, I now have a new aspiration to embark on a tailoring business. Fortunately, my husband is a skilled tailor, which will make the transition smoother. I intend to learn the art of sewing and subsequently invest in a sewing machine, estimated to cost around $100. This investment will lay the foundation for my own tailoring business. Establishing a tailoring business holds great promise for me. It will serve as a reliable source of income, enabling me to meet my financial needs more effectively. By leveraging my newfound skill in sewing, I can offer tailoring services and create unique garments for customers, contributing to the local market. Moreover, as my children are growing, I recognize the need for additional space to accommodate their needs and provide them with a comfortable living environment. With this in mind, I plan to construct an extra room. This expansion will not only cater to the growing needs of my children but also provide me with a sense of privacy and personal space.

I engage in different livelihood activities throughout the year. During the dry season, I work as a casual laborer, selling charcoal to earn income. In contrast, during the wet season, I focus on farming. Additionally, my husband contributes to our household income as a tailor, creating and selling clothes. Out of my three children, only one is currently attending school. To ensure her education continues uninterrupted, I paid off a school fee balance of $5 for the second term. For the upcoming term, her school fees amount to $12.9, which I plan to pay next month to ensure she can remain in school and receive a quality education. As part of my farming activities, I employed someone to assist with maize harvesting on my farm. In return for their services, I paid them $10. I am grateful for the favorable weather conditions we experienced in previous months, as it resulted in a bumper harvest. To enhance our nutritional intake, I purchased fresh vegetables such as kale, tomatoes, and cabbage for my family. Prioritizing their health and well-being is important to me, and these nutritious vegetables contribute to that goal. In addition to meeting immediate needs, I also made a forward-looking investment. I acquired two hens, recognizing their potential to multiply and serve as a future source of income. Even after the period of receiving transfers concludes, I will have a valuable asset that can provide financial security when needed.

I have been able to sort out several needs that I would be previously unable to sort. My children's mattress was so old and torn I was able to replace it in march, I was also able to pay school fees and buy a goat and now I have three goats courtesy of GD transfer. I want to add more animals, to specific chickens for commercial purposes. That means I need to invest in building a chicken coup before and this is my first project for this year and then later buy the chicken. I also want to add a room to my house, which means buying roofing sheets, about 10 to ensure I have a room enough for my family.

GD has had such a good impact on the people of our area. You can see visible change all around in what the transfer has done. For me My January transfers I used to buy a goat. In February I used $15 to pay school fees as well as buy food for the family at $1. Our area is also affected by drought, we buy all the water we use so I bought some water for use at home. I use about $4 worth of water daily. I also bought vegetables and some airtime to allow me to communicate. In March I bought a metal box for storage at $10, I also paid $10 to school and bought a mattress worth $30 for my children. I added some money to allow me to buy it.

My husband and I currently reside in a tiny home with our two young children, ages two and five. As the kids have gotten older, I've realized that having a separate room for them will improve both their privacy and ours. The necessity to extend our home to accommodate our growing family was further intensified by the arrival of my co-wife. So, my goal for the upcoming year is to buy enough construction materials to extend our home. This is what I intend to accomplish by buying a few construction materials each time I receive a transfer from GiveDirectly. Additionally, because I want to send my kids to a good school, I expect to use part of these transfers to pay for their tuition.

Owning animals has always been a dream of mine. Unpredictable weather patterns and a lack of funds to buy livestock have been major obstacles for me in my quest to own livestock. In our culture, livestock like goats and cows are highly regarded and used as a gauge of wealth. We exchange essential services, like providing schooling for children, for livestock in exchange for dowries and other payments. When I got my transfers for December, I made the decision to buy a $32 goat with the transfer. The goats will procreate in a few months, and this cycle will continue until I have a large number of goats. I can cash in on such a large number and use the proceeds to pay for the education of my two young children, who attend Ikanga Primary. Getting into the livestock farming business will enable me to help my tailor husband take care of the financial needs of our expanding family.

As a mother, I rely on my charcoal-making business to support my four-person family. Even though my husband manages a mill machine, his income is always insufficient to meet my family's needs. As a result, as soon as I received my transfer, I decided to spend KES 1,000 on my daughter's current ECD school fee. Furthermore, because I did not have enough food for my family, I spent KES 1,000 on buying additional food. Finally, because I had been longing to expand my poultry farming, I spent KES 500 on a new hen. I currently have four hens that I am excited to raise for future family benefits.

Everyone is excited about the organization because of the kindness they showed us by giving us money and allowing us to make spending decisions on our own. The follow-up calls after receiving the transfers also shows concern and commitment from them. There is nothing they are not doing right so far.

Most schools were not enrolling children in preschool for the past years due to the covid-19 pandemic. I have a son who should have been enrolled in school two years ago, but he did not because of the Covid 19 pandemic. I earn KES 400 per week from burning and selling charcoal but I end up spending it all on foodstuffs since they are scarce and expensive currently. Therefore, we spent the entire second transfer on his school fees, uniform, and books.

I was in the market looking for someone to buy my two sacks of charcoal that I had burned. I was desperately looking for market because we didn't have food at home and I didn't know what I was going to give my children at the end of the day. I was so happy because I now had money for food and I was going to take my time to look for good market.

The biggest difference in my daily life is that I'm now able to provide at least two meals a day for my family compered to previous when used to have only one meal a day.

I am a charcoal burner while my husband is tailor and we have been been working so hard to assist each other with family responsibilities. Lately, we have been struggling with paying bills because my husband's business only picks during festive season and school opening period. In between those seasons, he does clothes repairs which earns him very little income averaging to KES 100 per day. On the other hand, it been a struggle for me to get enough charcoal for sell because trees have been depleted since this is the main economic activity and the prolonged drought has has worsened the situation. For me to get some wood for burning, I have to dig deep the tree roots left out during cutting down. This is a process that takes a while as I have to manually dig deep and the area is very dry. For the last two months, we were struggling to provide basic needs to our two children and being enrolled in the program saved us a big deal because the monthly transfers was going to supplement our small income. I spend KES 550 to buy five 2kg packets of maize floor and the balance of KES 600 to buy clothes for our babies which has now added up to three pairs of two pairs of clothes that they had.