I am currently in college, and since this is my final year, I want to focus on my studies. I plan to use my transfers to gradually purchase the necessary items to ensure a seamless stay at school. I am confident that if I achieve good grades, I will likely secure a job. However, if that doesn’t happen, I also have the option to open my own carpentry workshop. Once I finish college, I aim to establish my own workshop, which will allow me to earn an income to support myself and my younger siblings who are still in school. Additionally, I am working towards building my own house and have already started buying iron sheets to achieve this goal. Each month, when I receive my transfer, I use part of it to buy iron sheets and the rest to support my stay in school. I am very grateful for the financial support from GiveDirectly.

I am currently in college, quite far from home, and come from a modest background with younger siblings still in school. To cut down on transportation costs, I decided to rent a place near my college, which has also made it easier for me to get to school on time. With my latest transfer, I allocated $30 towards my school fees to cover some arrears, as we needed to make a partial payment to start the new term. I'm very grateful to GiveDirectly for this support. Additionally, I spent $14 on essential food items to ensure I could focus on my studies without being distracted by hunger. I used $42 to cover my house rent and spent the remaining $16 on two iron sheets. Since I don't have my own home and stay with my brother when I'm not at college, I'm setting aside funds to purchase iron sheets as part of preparing to build my own house in the future.

I aim to finish my studies by the end of this year. Afterwards, I plan to utilize my transfers to gradually purchase the necessary items to complete my toolbox. Eventually, I aim to establish my own carpentry workshop and start my own business and have a financial security

As a college student pursuing a technical carpentry course, I've faced various expenses to ensure I can attend school without interruption. I allocated $45 of my transfers towards renting a house near the school premises. Additionally, I had to pay $18 for examination fees to sit for my exams. Despite the financial challenges, I'm grateful for the progress I've made in my studies. To meet the school's requirements, especially for safety gear during practicals, I spent $25 on school uniform and shoes. I also allocated $11 for food expenses to sustain myself while continuing my studies. Looking ahead, I have aspirations to become a livestock farmer, so I invested $3 in buying a chicken with hopes that it will multiply over time.

I do not want my education from college to go at a loss. If my parents had the financial muscle to take care of my school fees I would redirect the money from the transfers into purchasing a tool box to help me become a professional carpenter for hire. I would want to venture into the business but I will need to first use my transfers to clear my debts at school and finish my last term at the college and then maybe with money from work I will do I can now think about venturing on my own.

I joined college quite a while after finishing school. My mother is not employed anywhere, she takes care of my fathers animals and my father is tailor. They couldn't take care of my college education and as a first child I decided to let my younger siblings get education. My enrollment to the Givedirectly project allowed me to go to college, I am almost finishing school but I depend in a big way the transfers to get my school fees paid. I used $25 in November, $20 in December and $30 in January to clear my school fees debt which is now down to $10. I used the rest of the money as pocket money since I am now on attachment in Mombasa and am staying with my uncle.

At the moment, I hope that I will manage to complete the course I am currently pursuing in carpentry and joinery without any hitches even though it is really tough having to completely rely on the transfers for all of my school and personal needs due to my parent's inability to support due to lack of income. I also hope to save whenever possible so that I can purchase a toolbox. This toolbox will be vital to my ability to earn from this course because once I have it, I can work as a mobile carpenter before setting a workshop of my own. My bigger goal however is to some day set up a workshop of my own, become self-employed and be able to support my family, especially my child who is currently under the care of her mother who left me due to my inability to provide for them.

After completing primary school, I knew joining secondary school would be almost impossible owing to my parent's lack of income. The transfers would help me pay the fees if decided to join a day school but my fear was what would become of me once they stopped because am aware the project would end before I completed my 4 years of secondary education if I joined this year. This led to me to the decision of pursuing a course in Carpentry and joinery which takes only a year and a half to complete and would work out well within the transfer period. After completing the course, I would also be in a position to earn some money that would be helpful in supporting my struggling family and if possible, support my 6 younger siblings pursue their education fully unlike me. Since I enrolled for the course in January this year, I have been fully relying on these transfers to pay my school fee, rent, foodstuff and take care all my personal needs as my parents are completely unable to support.

I aim to establish my carpentry workshop once I finish college next year. I believe that with the skills I will have acquired by then, it will be more convenient for me to start my own business rather than seek employment elsewhere. To achieve this, it is crucial for me to continue using the cash transfers to support my education. Additionally, I will strive to save some of the funds as initial capital for the workshop, ensuring that I have a solid foundation to start my entrepreneurial journey.

Last year, after completing grade eight, I faced financial challenges that prevented me from continuing to high school. Instead, I decided to join a carpentry college in February of this year. The cash transfers I received played a crucial role in ensuring that I could enroll in school and settle in without financial burdens. Since then, I have been allocating $17 from each month's transfer to pay for my school fees, while the remaining $17 covers my other personal expenses while I am in school. I am grateful that these transfers have alleviated any financial struggles I could have faced, allowing me to focus on my studies without interruptions to collect fees.

I plan to save my income from my carpentry job to raise money which I will use to pay for my college fees in February. I finished my primary school education last year though due to lack of money, I never joined a college then. I have been saving part of my income for this purpose; I have saved $40 that I intend to top up with my subsequent transfers to raise $6.45 for college fees. Through the carpentry training, I am yet to enroll in, I will be able to start my workshop and hence will have a reliable source of income as opposed to working for someone.

I completed Primary School last year, and because I come from a low-income family, I was concerned about my capability to join High School. Unfortunately, due to my parent's inability to raise school fees, I chose to pursue artisan training. With my recent transfer, I paid $24 for the carpentry course. I am glad I was able to acquire some new skills. I spent the remaining $10 on a new phone. The previous one had malfunctioned, and I was always off, so GiveDirectly could not reach me during follow-ups. I am glad the cash had a positive impact on my life, and I hope to be self-reliant once I complete the carpentry course.

Resuming school after lacking tuition fees and staying home for two months, thanks to the cash transfers, is sufficient proof of Give Directly's remarkable charity work. The organization alleviates challenges in many families through cash transfers, particularly hunger and lack of school fees. From my perspective, there is nothing Give Directly could do better; they are perfect!

By the time I received the cash transfer, I had been absent from school for about two months due to an unpaid tuition amount of KES 4,000 that had accrued throughout the year. My father, being the sole provider, bears the heavy burden of caring for my nine siblings and me. The little money he generates from his tailoring business could not pay off my school's debt. For the time I was home, I occasionally took on carpentry tasks to raise funds, but it was never enough because the jobs rarely came by. Due to the overdue balance, I was unable to take my end-of-term exams, which broke my heart because it was the second-last academic term before graduating from elementary school. The money sent by Give Directly raised my prospects of returning to school. I used the entire transfer to clear the tuition balance and resumed my education. I can't thank Give Directly enough for giving me a fair shot at completing elementary school.

I was overjoyed when I realized I had received my transfer because I am still young and have not begun to engage in any income-generating activity. I was overjoyed because it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. In fact, I had never experienced anything like it in my life, and I couldn't believe that I could be enrolled to receive a monthly transfer at my age. As a result, as I continue to receive my transfer, I will see a significant improvement in my life.

Before I received my transfer, I was concerned about how my parents would raise my fee if I was sent home. Life had been difficult for the past eight months, and we had been forced to accept the situation. Fortunately, I have been able to pay off my fees since receiving my transfer. This provided me with relief, and I am now able to focus on my academics without stress. Without the recipients, I would be at home right now because my parents struggle to provide us with the necessary support due to their low income.

I am a schoolboy, and when I received my transfer, I prioritized spending KES 700 on my school fees. I had some accumulated school fees that my parents were unable to settle quickly. I did so because my parents were having difficulty raising my tuition. My father is a tailor, but his business is currently struggling, resulting in a low income. As a result, he has been unable to provide food for his family. After paying my school fees, I used the remainder of the transfer to assist with food purchases.