In four months’ time, my new goal for my life is to venture in poultry farming which has been my wish for so long. Given that this is one project which I feel I can easily handle with much ease and dedication that it deserves. The proceeds in terms of eggs and chicken will also supplement the family daily needs for me in that order.

The biggest difference in my daily life in the last four months is that I am currently in a very able position to provide my family in terms of food and other basic necessities. Unlike before when I had none, I can now afford to shade some smiles on the faces of my family members. For so long, I have been spending the little amount that I earn from casual work on food, and nothing was left for savings. I can save, and plan for the future courtesy of the monthly transfers.

In six months’ time, I expect to be in the process of continually saving money in preparation for children’s education. The struggle that I have seen in my village mates about school fee payment is something that I do want to face as a hurdle. This is the main reason why I need to struggle so much to ensure that it will be easier for me. I am also thinking about the best ways that I can invest in a business that will see me realize this goal.

My life is currently different from how it was four months ago in that I now supply green tea leaves to the factory for processing. Before, I would sell my tea leaves to other farmers so that I would get immediate payment to use in meeting my family needs. In addition to this, I have been able to pay school fees for my daughter without much struggle. This has given her enough time to dedicate to her studies.

For the next four months, my additional goal in life is to start a poultry keeping project. My wife will be running this project and it will aid us when GiveDirectly will have stopped giving us the financial aid after the duration they promised us. We will be earning an income through the sale of chicken and eggs.

The biggest difference in my daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer is that I no longer overwork myself doing some casual work at peoples farms. This is because my wife has been able to support me with our bills using part of her transfers. Due to this, I no longer sell my green tea leaves to other people at the farm level hence I usually earn a good income at the end of every month which I use in paying school fees for my children.

I expect that my life will have changed in the next six months in that I will have started a poultry keeping project. I will be using my transfers to achieve this slowly by buying at least two chicken every month. Also, I will have planted some tea cuttings in my nursery. This is an everlasting investment which will not only profit me but also grandchildren.

My life is currently different in that I can now afford most of my family's basic needs alongside other family needs without any difficulty or stress. In the past my children could often be sent home for school fees but the frequency of them being sent home for school fees has greatly reduced. This has been made possible by the monthly transfers that I receive from GiveDirectly. Moreover, I no longer engage myself in lots of casual labour like I used to do before I started receiving these transfers. This has given me time to engage in my own income generating activities and even have time to relax.

In the next four months, I want to save more money to be able to increase the family's assets. I want to focus on saving the monthly transfers that I get, combine the same with proceeds from my tea farming and buy a highly productive dairy cow. We are currently buying milk from our neighbor which is very costly and humiliating as well. Buying a dairy cow will bring an end to the constant shortage of milk that we have always experienced as a family. The dairy cow shall also be of great importance to me and to my entire family now and in the future.

The biggest difference in my life in the last four months is that I now work less and I no longer sell tea to middlemen unlike before. In the recent past we were forced to sell our tea to middlemen at a throw away price owing to the fact that we could not wait until the end of the month to get the full monthly pay and meet the daily household needs. We had no other alternative source of income hence the need to sell our tea to the middlemen to get that small income and meet the daily household needs. Selling our tea directly to the factory has enabled us to get more income at the end of the month that has equally enabled us meet most of our family needs without strain. There is also an added advantage of getting free fertilizers from the factory by being consistent in our supply of tea to the factory. Going forward, I expect that we will have an increase in yield from our tea plantation that will enable us make other family investments and be self reliant. We will also have more bonuses at the end of the year.

In the next six months, I expect to save more money from my monthly transfers, pay school fees in time and make other family investments that will help me raise more income to sustain my family. Nothing makes me happier as a father than to be able to meet most of my responsibilities as a parent and raise a happy family.

Currently, I do not sell my green tea leaves which I use to sell on cash to get money for food. Now I can deliver to factory for processing and am paid on monthly basis with a fair price.

I would like to start poultry farming so that I can get sustainable source of income from the sale of eggs.

The biggest difference in my life is that now I have a second source of income which is GD a part from farming which is a seasonally.

In the next six months I would expect to have more chicken which will help me to meet my daily needs.