My ultimate goal is to purchase a piece of land and later build some rental houses. This is an investment that my children will inherit and it will be a reminder of GiveDirectly in our lives. Currently, 50M by 100M piece of land costs $ 700 in my area and because I cannot afford it on my own, GiveDirectly transfers will come in handy. Since it will take me many years to achieve this if I decide to be saving the all of my transfers, $34 every month, I am planning to invest these transfers on assets that will fetch more money later when I sell them. Currently, I am saving my transfers in a merry go round group and when my turn comes, I will use them in the purchase of goats. This is because they increase in number quickly over a short period of time due to their short gestation period. When they will have increased in number, I will sell them and purchase some cows that I will later sell also and use the proceeds in achieving my goal of buying a piece of land.

When we started receiving the transfer from GiveDirectly, I decided to join a merry go round group where we contribute $20 every month. We're a total of four members and we decided to form this group since it's easier for one to do some projects when he gets money in lump sum. With my recent transfer, I was able to use $40 to pay for my contribution and I still have $ 4 that I am planning to use in case of an emergency. In addition, I spent $30 in the purchase of a goat as an investment that I can always rely on when faced with some financial crisis. Lastly, I spent $ 24 to pay for a solar that I purchased last year on higher purchase terms and used the remaining $ 4 on food for my family. I settled on buying the solar panel on higher purchase since I did not have enough cash and it had always been my dream to own one for proper lighting purposes and for charging our phones.

Currently I have two goats, my goal is to expand the herd and also capitalize on the surplus chicken feeds available after the maize harvesting season. This will expand my poultry farming project and lead to an increased source of income. With the growth of my family in mind, I'm planning to enlarge my house, making it more spacious.

I have a household of nine members,this includes my mother, spouse , my Two children and my late brother's Two children. I provide for them through part-time jobs, which are not guaranteed. I spent $10 from the transfer I received last month to buy food. I then bought poultry feeds at $10, since I rear chickens as a source of income. On a good day, I sell up to Five cockerels each $10. Once in a while, I trade these chickens for goats. I view the goats as long-term investments, where I can sell them in times of a financial need. Alternatively, I exchange them for cows, which I use for ploughing. Through this, I have acquired 6 male cows for ploughing and out of it generated an extra income. Besides that, we were able to plough our 5-acre portion of the family land. With the remaining $14, I was able to pay for solar power which I acquired through the GiveDirectly transfers and being paid in installments. This has really benefited our household.

My goal for this year is to buy a lot of goats all at once. I will be receiving my merry-go-round amount in August, I plan to use the entire amount in buying goats. I plan to buy so many goats, allowing them to reproduce, and then sell them and get some money to expand my house. Due to GD transfers, I now have a one-room house and as much as it is sufficient for now, I know once my children grow older it will not. I plan to spend the earnings on expanding the house to a bigger house which could be fairly bigger so I can live with my kids as they get older

We started a family merry-go-round/ savings group when we began to receive GD transfers. I do a monthly contribution of $20 which is given to a particular member who was meant to receive cash in that month from the group. I spent $20 every month to make my monthly contribution to the merry-go-round group. I also spent $4 on school fee payments as well as $10 on chicken feed. In February apart from the group contribution, I spent $10 on maize flour and saved $4 to sort out needs as they arose in the home. In March $10 went into buying food while $4 went into chicken feed in addition to the group payment of $20.

GiveDirectly transfers have assisted me in paying my first-grade son's school fees as well as purchasing food for my current family of nine. Aside from the monthly support, I also do subsistence farming to supplement my income. I am grateful that I was able to save a portion of the monthly transfers through the informal savings group we formed with the other nine members of our village, and when my turn came last year, I was able to purchase a dairy cow. In the coming year, I intend to continue saving with the group and use the funds to purchase goats. I hope to multiply them through breeding and then sell them to supplement the small family land that we had been farming on, giving me more space to improve farming and produce a plentiful supply of foodstuffs for my family.

I spent $44 of the last three months' remittances on groceries for my family and $20 on chicken feed. In an effort to use my $30 savings to launch a business, I joined a monthly rotational savings group. I'm delighted I used some of the transfer to pay my child's $4 school fee outstanding, which allowed them to attend school. The cash has significantly increased our family's income. I build houses for a living, but they are unreliable, and sometimes I miss work for weeks, which results in our family skipping meals.

Before I spent my transfer, I needed to take my time and budget for it to satisfy all of my needs. I intend to pay my daughter's overdue school fee balance of KES 500, as her teacher urged me to do so before her studies are disrupted. KES 500 will be spent on chicken feeds to last at least 15 days for my flock of 25 chickens. During an emergency, I normally sell these animals to get funds to meet immediate needs. Also, after our food runs out tomorrow, I plan to replenish it with KES 1,000 in order to provide meals for the next few days as I wait for money from my house construction job. Finally, I intend to utilize the remaining funds to prepay my solar system bill, which is due at the beginning of next month.

Generally, GiveDirectly does so well in bailing out the neediest people from the community where it works. Those who are always looked down upon more often benefit from its program. This, therefore, brings a shift in the perception of many community members. As a result, many have been able to register an improvement in their living standard. This could not be so at first. Many are nowadays positive in life. I think that GiveDirectly needs to establish a sustainable way of offering continuous support to its beneficiaries.

By mid-2021, I identified a parcel of land on which I had begun making payments. The total cost for the parcel was KES 25,000 although, by end of March 2022, I already paid KES 21,000. Unfortunately, the seller had mounted pressure on me. However, I never had an alternative source of income. When the recent was finally sent, I prioritized offsetting the payment. I borrowed KES 1,000 from a friend and topped it up with my transfer of KES 3,000 to make the final payment. I am glad that currently, I own a plot. The transfer greatly helped me to pay that off and now I am no longer under any pressure.

Being also a livestock farmer, I rare cows and graze them in the field. I received the text while in the field and was so elated. I rushed to the house and discussed it with my wife so that she helps in planning of the funds. I later withdrew the amount that day and put it to good use.

The major impact the receiving of the funds has played is that I can now buy adequate food for the family and there will be no sleeping hungry anymore. On forthcoming transfers, I wish to keep saving for future reference.

The tough economic times have seen me struggle financially as I do menial jobs and have a family (one wife and two children). I still live at our family homestead with the family though my dad is the breadwinner and the wife is just a housewife. The amount received of KES 1200 has helped complete a couple of projects. I spent KES 500 for chicken feed as I am a poultry farmer and a further KES 500 for food supplements in the house thus no sleeping hungry. KES 170, I saved it for any future use.