I am currently staying home, looking after my children since I don't have a job. We live in a small metal sheet house, and with all five of us here, it is starting to feel really uncomfortable, but I am determined to change that. I am saving up from my involvement in a merry-go-round, and I am excited to start building a bigger house for my family.

I am a mother of three children. It was around 2:00 pm when I received my transfer from GiveDirectly and went to withdraw it immediately. Last October, I joined a merry-go-round where we contribute $20 each month; with the transfer, I contributed my share to it. With the goal of improving my children's life, I took $10 to pay my children's school fees to avoid them being sent back. The remaining amount of $4 was used to purchase two chickens for investment. I currently have four chickens and plan to buy more in the future to sell and acquire goats.

My current focus is on the construction of a new house. The one-room structure we currently occupy is not only small but also lacks privacy, making living conditions challenging for my family, including my husband and four children. Previously, raising funds for a new house was difficult due to financial constraints, particularly the need for food. However, with our recent harvest, I started saving $20 each month from July to enable the construction process. My goal is to accumulate enough money to purchase 20 iron sheets by February next year and begin saving for other building materials. Additionally, in the coming year or so, I aim to enroll my youngest child, who is currently one and a half years old, in kindergarten.

I've always desired to have a more spacious house, but the lack of finances has been a significant obstacle. My family, consisting of my husband and three children, currently resides in a one-room structure and I feel it lacks enough space and privacy. Our weekly income of $10, earned from the casual jobs of making and selling charcoal, is primarily allocated to meet basic needs like food and school fees for our children. However, things started becoming better in July of this year, as we were approaching the harvest season. At that point, I began saving $20 from each month’s transfer through a self-help group with the hope of accumulating sufficient funds to contribute to the construction of a two-room house. After saving, I allocate $10 from the funds towards the monthly school fees to cover tuition for that specific month, ensuring that my children can continue their studies without interruptions. Over the past three months, I have also been using the remaining $4 to purchase chickens, and I currently have five chickens. I plan to rear them, so I can sell them in the future to support my family's needs in case of emergencies.

I have had a dream of getting a bigger house but it seemed like a far fetched thing until Givedirectly came my way. I have been able to buy 8 sheets of iron sheet out of the twenty that I need to ensure I can finish my house. I have a one roomed house but I would want a two roomed house since my children are growing up and the one room is no linger enough for us. I do not like that my children will sometimes have to sleep with their grandparents because we do not have sufficient space, My goal is to complete that house and becoming self sufficient in terms of space for my family.

I have spent my transfers on iron sheets for the past few months. I still spent the transfers in April on June on Iron sheets. A sheet goes for $9.5 and in April I bought two sheets at $19 and the same amount in May. I paid school fees for my child in the past three months, In April I paid $4 in May I paid $4 and in June I paid $10. I bought my children shoes at $1.5 each in May. I also got food at $4 in May $10 in April and $ 4in June.

As a mother, all I ever desire is to see my amazing children complete school and become great people in life. I want to put all my effort into ensuring that they remain in school and pursue their studies. We also want to provide for them a good shelter where after a long day of study they can go home and rest. We currently live in a single roomed muddy house and we would like to build a two room house that is spacious enough for the four of us. After our house construction project, I would want to save enough and start my own kiosk where I will be selling my products to my local people. I am planning to save GiveDirectly's transfers and also work hard by selling and burning charcoal to fasten the whole process. Thank you so much GiveDirectly, it is because of you I can think of ways of bettering my family's lives and my own life.

My husband happens to be the breadwinner of our home and he really works hard to make ends meet. We have three beautiful children whom we want to perfect their future by ensuring they remain in school and chase their dreams. Life is really difficult and with the current Economic condition we really put in our effort to put food on the table. The moment I received my transfers from GiveDirectly, I spent $10 to pay for my child's school fees and it really made us happy. I also took $4 to buy food and feed my beautiful family and it put a smile on my children's face. With the remaining amount of $20, we had sat down with my husband and decided that we will buy two metal sheets to start our goal of building our family a bigger house. The current house we live in is not spacious enough and whenever it rains we usually face a lot of difficulties because of the leaking roof.

In my view, GiveDirectly does well in enrolling several people in its program. It gives unconditional cash transfers that make us spend them in a way that can positively impact our lives. As a result, many of us have been able to send our children to school and purchase food to curb our family from the current famine situation. Without the transfer, life would be pretty hard for us now. As a result, there is an increased level of school enrollment since we first received our transfer. There is nothing that it does not do well.

I am a mother of two children, and I only depend on casual jobs to support them since my husband is jobless. With the transfer, I spent $7 on paying school fees for my daughter, Zawadi who is enrolled in school. Currently, she has fee arrears of $3. To expand my poultry farm, I also spent $10 on two hens and at the moment I have four. I hope to raise a flock from the four domestic fowl that will help me to begin raising goats. Since I run a food kiosk business, I spent $10 on boosting my business which now performs better than before.

It was around 3.00 pm when I received the transfer. I had just come from the farm filled with stress because I had no clue where I would get money for food. I laid down and slept to find some relief from the hard day’s work. Upon waking up, I found a confirmation of the receipt of the first transfer.

The biggest difference in my daily life is the reduced challenges in meeting my family's needs because I used the transfer to buy enough food for the family. I now find it easy to provide for the family as I use the small income from our business to support my children’s education. It has not been easy meeting these needs since our business has not been doing well. Nearly everyone in the village does the same business which has resulted in low market demand.

We are a family of five; my husband, three children, and myself. Burning of charcoal is the main economic activity in our area that my husband and I do to raise income for catering to the family’s basic needs. We currently face hurdles in this activity because it is flooded hence reduced income due to lack of market. The transfers from GiveDirectly came in handy because we had run short of flour and would, therefore, go for some days without food. Using the transfers, I bought eight kilograms of corn flour for KES 800, and a chicken for KES 370 and saved the remaining portion of the transfers for intermittent use.