I used to raise goats until my two children needed to attend secondary school. To afford their education, I had to sell eight of my goats. Now, thanks to transfers from GiveDirectly, I have one goat that I bought in July 2024. My goal before the year ends is to purchase three to four more goats. I believe in investing in goats because they can multiply easily and are simple to sell. They also offer flexibility, as I can exchange them for dairy cows. With cows, I can increase my income by selling milk and using some for our family. With my current business of selling dried sisal and the additional income from transfers, I am confident I can save enough to expand my goat herd as planned. This investment will not only secure my family's future but also provide opportunities for growth and stability.

I am a mother of seven children who works tirelessly hawking sisal to my fellow villagers. Despite the challenges, all my children are enrolled in school, and I am committed to ensuring their education is uninterrupted. I recently allocated $30 to cover their school fees because I firmly believe in investing in their future through education. Additionally, I actively participate in a merry-go-round, saving $20 each month, accumulating a total of $60 so far. This savings practice is crucial for me as businesswoman because it provides a financial safety net. It allows me to easily borrow when needed, ensuring I can promptly purchase essentials like sisal for my business. With the remaining $12, I purchased food to ensure my family does not go hungry. Managing our finances in this way helps maintain stability and security for my children and me.

Having a large family demands unwavering dedication. Thanks to GiveDirectly transfers, providing for my loved ones has become significantly more manageable. Both my spouse and I rely on our small businesses to make ends meet, a task made more challenging with our seven children attending school and various basic needs to fulfill. Upon receiving the latest transfer, I wisely allocated $83 to bolster my sisal business. This investment directly contributes to our family's financial stability, as the profit it generates sustains us. Recognizing the urgency, I allocated $19 to replenish our depleting food supplies. I am profoundly grateful to GiveDirectly for their financial support, which has alleviated the strain of our finances and empowered my business to flourish.

In the coming year and beyond, I want to start raising goats because they're easy to take care of and don't cost much. Right now, I'm busy with the sisal business, which is hard because I have to travel a lot to find materials. But as I get older, it's getting harder to keep up with all the traveling, and it's making me worry about the future. To make my dream of raising goats come true, I plan to save money slowly from my monthly payments from GiveDirectly and some of the money I make from my business. Goat farming seems like a good idea because goats have babies quickly and there's always a demand for their products. This could help me out if I ever need extra money in the future.

I am a business woman whose business has been selling sisal to the local markets for the last four years. Normally I would go for my stock daily and sell it daily. This process was very tiresome as a load that can fit your head is a huge load and travelling from home to the farms to restock and back to the markets and then back home is a long way off. I want to make my work easier. My goal is to buy larger amounts of sisal stocks, secure a store where I can save my things and sell slowly from there, this will cut down on my transportation costs and also will be less tiring for me as I expand the business.

I used to sell sisal until November where my suppliers informed me that they could not supply me at the time due to the heavy rains. Sisal is usually harvested during the sunny season when its really hot to ensure it can also be dried. I decided to set aside money that I would use to venture back into that business when my money comes together and so I saved $30 in November, I saved my entire December transfer of $34 and in January I saved $15. The remaining $4 from November was used as fair by my son who had gone to pick his documentation from school. In January I cleared the debt at my youngest child's school of $10 and paid for her lower primary at $7, I also paid the exam fee for my two children in lower primary at $2.

My future goal is to take my selling business to the next level by building a stall at the marketplace where I sell my products. Currently, not having a stall has made running my business quite inconvenient. I have to carry my stock back and forth from home to the marketplace daily, spending three hours on the road, which is exhausting. Having a stall would reduce this fatigue, allowing me to leave my stock at the market and commute without a heavy load. This will not only ease my hardships but also give me more time to care for my seven young children who depend on me.

The cash transfers have been a significant relief for my family, especially since I have seven children in school. Previously, my husband and I struggled to cover their school fees alongside providing for basic needs like food. His income from hawking toiletry items and mine from selling sisal was simply not enough. There were times when our children were at risk of missing school due to unpaid fees, which was heartbreaking to me as a parent. With the cash transfers, my top priority is to clear any pending tuition balances as much as possible. From the recent three transfers, I allocated $54 for school fees. I am relieved that my children have never missed classes since then. I also repaid a $34 debt to people I had hired to prepare my land for planting during the recent rainy season. After the planting season, I spent $14 to revive my sisal-selling business, which I had temporarily put on hold to focus on farming. Now, I am debt-free, my children are progressing well in school, and I have resumed my business thanks to the cash transfers.

My business operates on a seasonal basis, which implies that there are periods when I cannot obtain sisal for sale. During these times, I face a lack of income. As a result, I heavily depend on my husband's earnings to meet all the family's requirements. My objective is to venture into livestock farming or establish an alternative business that can provide sustenance during these financially challenging periods. By doing so, I aim to alleviate the sole burden of supporting the family's needs from falling solely on my husband shoulders.

I utilized my entire May transfer to settle the school fees for my seven children. Among them, my two eldest are attending secondary school, three are in primary school, and the remaining two are enrolled in nursery school. Collectively, my children had accumulated a school fee debt totaling $40 across their respective schools. Both my husband and I engage in small businesses to sustain our livelihoods. I sell sisal twine ropes, while my husband offers various household goods in market centers during designated market days. However, our combined incomes fall short of fully covering our children's educational expenses. Consequently, we often face challenges in paying the school fees promptly, which negatively impacts our children's academic performance. At times, they are compelled to miss several days of classes until we secure the funds to settle their fees. Thankfully, since receiving financial aid, my children are spared from frequent school fee-related dismissals. The knowledge that my children can now enjoy a conducive learning environment due to the financial assistance provided by the monthly stipend brings me immense satisfaction.

I saved every transfer from the previous two months in order to enroll my kid in high school. Although we have children in both primary and secondary school, it has been challenging to pay for their tuition. I am happy that one of the elementary students fared well on her final primary national examinations. My husband runs a small business in Kilifi town, while I work as a domestic helper, but we do not make enough money to cover all of our household's expenses. Our lives have been better as a result of the program, therefore I'm glad I joined. My ability to save money will greatly aid in my child's ability to enroll in secondary education.

What GiveDirectly is doing well is giving out unconditional cash transfers to the community's less fortunate which has helped boost the current economy as many used the transfers to improve their well being ranging from buying livestock to starting businesses to paying school fees to buying food. Every individual from the community benefiting from these funds got their own choice of spending. I also liked being followed up after every transfer goes out to check how we are fairing. GiveDirectly should however consider the illiterates when sending out SMS reminders.

My three children had just been sent back home to collect fees two days ago when  I received my recent transfer. I felt so happy since the funds came at a time when I needed money the most. I paid $ 15 for school and they were able to go back to school. My children's faces glittered with joy when they went back to class again, all gratitude to GiveDirectly. Furthermore, I paid my monthly merry-go-round contribution of $ 15 with the remaining part of the transfer. The Chama is made up of 8 community members meaning I get $ 800 every eight months. This in turn will assist with paying my firstborn's school fees and shopping in the future as she joins secondary. I currently have one child in class eight, one in class six, and the remaining in class five, two are yet to be enrolled in school. I work as a housekeeper earning $ 500 monthly while my husband is a small business hawker selling Colgate, soaps, and pampers making a daily income of $ 5. What we earn as a couple is never enough to cater to the family's basic needs hence the need for additional funds from GiveDirectly to pay for fees and Chama. GiveDirectly transfer has improved peace and harmony among the family member.

On the day transfer was sent, I was down financially. I was experiencing a lot of worries about how I could raise fees for my five children who had been at home due to my inability to pay their fees. However, when I confirmed my transfer, I felt happy. It dawned on me that God had made a way out for me to take back my children to school. When I informed my husband who was not around by then, he was overjoyed and urge me to spend the whole transfer on school fees. I am grateful to GiveDirectly.

Before receiving my transfer, I had a lot of struggles. I could not pay off part of my children's tuition fee because I did not have a job and getting a casual job was hard after the election. With the transfer, I was able to support my children's education and this has created a big difference in my life. I am so glad that now I have been relieved from the pressure of raising school fees. I am so grateful to GiveDirectly for such timely help.

Immediately after I received my transfer, I spent KES 1,000 on paying tuition fees for my five children. I rely mainly on selling charcoal to earn a living. At that time I did not have any single money to offer support to my children who were at home for fee arrears. I also saved KES 2,000 in a merry-go-round to begin raising school fees for my child who is currently in class eight. It will give me an easy way to raise secondary school fees for my son. I did this because I do not have a regular source of income and this would greatly help me support my family.