My aim for the upcoming year is to ensure that my children can pursue their studies without any hindrances. As someone who didn't have the opportunity for formal education myself, I strongly believe in its importance for a brighter future. I plan to use the upcoming transfers to cover their school fees, as I believe education opens doors to better opportunities. Providing my children with an education will equip them with the skills they need to secure good jobs in the future, enabling them to support themselves. I am immensely grateful to the organization for their assistance, which allows me to provide this invaluable gift to my children

To support my family, I rely on subsistence farming and raising livestock for food and income. Previously, I struggled to afford school fees for my seven children, with four in secondary school and three in primary school. However, I am immensely thankful for the financial support I have received, as it has greatly helped in paying for my children's education. One pressing concern was a substantial debt related to school fees. I utilized $82 from the transfers to clear this debt, ensuring my children's education remains uninterrupted. With only $20 remaining, I allocated it towards purchasing essential food supplies for my family, as our resources were limited. It brings me great joy to be able to comfortably support my children's education. This assistance marks a significant accomplishment for me, and I am sincerely thankful for the help provided.

My primary objective is to provide a comfortable education for all of my children, supporting them through university. I take pride in the progress I have achieved in my life, and the prospect of witnessing each of them successfully complete their education fills me with immense joy. My plan is to utilize future transfers to continue working towards this goal. The pursuit of educating my children brings me great pride, and I am committed to realizing this aspiration.

My life has been marked by constant struggle due to the challenges of supporting a large family through farming and selling charcoal to meet our basic needs. I am responsible for the education of my seven children, and the burden of paying their fees rests solely on my shoulders. Nonetheless, I find solace in the fact that the assistance provided has alleviated some of this weight, particularly by addressing the substantial school fee debt that had accumulated. Out of the transfers received, I allocated $88 to settle a portion of this pending debt, while the remaining $18 was used to procure essential food supplies for my family, ensuring that we had enough to sustain us for the remainder of the month. The support from GiveDirectly has undeniably transformed our lives, and I am optimistic about the prospect of brighter days ahead.

In the coming year and beyond, I want to ensure that my children receive the best education possible and achieve their educational objectives. I currently have six children in school, two in high school and four in primary school. Raising the required fees, particularly for those in high school, could have been difficult if not for the transfers. My main source of income has been burning and selling charcoal, but I am unable to support my family adequately. I usually sell the charcoal once a week for $ 7, making it difficult to raise fees while also feeding my family. My goal is to pay fees for my children on time so that they can stay in school and avoid being sent home.

Paying school fees for my six children has never been easy, given that I do not have a single source of income on which to rely. I usually make ends meet by working odd jobs with low pay, which is insufficient to support my family. In addition to school fees, it is my responsibility to provide food for them. The most difficult challenge has been balancing basic needs such as food and other expenses, which has resulted in my children being sent home. I was unable to raise sufficient funds to cover their fees. I am grateful to GiveDirectly because, ever since I started receiving transfers, my top priority has been paying the fees on time. As a result, I spent a larger portion of my recent transfers on paying fees so that they could continue their studies uninterrupted. Currently, two are in high school and four are in primary school. I am relieved to see them staying in class and not having their studies disrupted by fees. I also used some of the recent transfers to buy food for my family. Despite the financial constraints, I purchased enough maize flour to last us several weeks, allowing my children to eat three meals per day, as opposed to when we had to skip meals due to a lack of food.

I would want to see my children prosper in their education, and therefore my is to educate my children to a level that I could. I would ensure that part of every month’s transfer is sent to the school to clear any remaining balance. I would also want to buy livestock that would be of great help to me in the future in case of emergencies.

I have several children, some are in secondary school while others are in primary school, and getting money to cater for their needs had been a great challenge. Recently some of them were sent home for school, a situation that made the stay at home for some time. Luckily, I received the transfers from GiveDirectly that enabled me to settle part of the school fees and I managed to pay KES. 2000. With the remaining amount and considering the tough situation and the ongoing drought, I bought food worth KES. 1470. I was so happy and felt a great relief.

The transfer came at a time when I needed it the most. This is because I was admitted in hospital for 2 weeks due to an eye problem. I had huge medical bills to pay before being allowed to go home. I used the $30 I received from Givedirectly plus my personal saving to clear all the bills. At the moment, I am happy that I am feeling better and was allowed to go home courtesy of the transfers. Additionally, Having seven children that I got with my two wives who are still schooling, both in secondary and primary school. I used $30 to pay part of their fee arrears, making sure that they do not miss classes like before. I agreed with the teachers to be paying $20 part of the transfers which I am receiving every month.

As the family provider, I have always relied on making charcoal to earn a living. It takes nearly two weeks to cut tree stumps and heat them to produce charcoal, which delays my income. Even after waiting so long to sell, the most I can make in two weeks is KES 1,200. This amount is insufficient to purchase food and pay for the children's school fees. As a result, my five children are frequently absent from school due to unpaid fees, and the family runs out of food at least twice a week. This is why I spent KES 2,600 from the transfer to settle the outstanding school fee balances, and my children have been able to continue their studies uninterrupted. In addition, I acquired food with the remaining funds, which has lasted my family to this day.

The most important aspect that I have witnessed having impacted me mostly through GiveDirectly and the funds they offer, is that I have managed to keep my children in school and help them continue to get and education since were it not for the funds this would be a struggle like it has been in the past where my kids had to stay home for weeks before I could afford to send some of them to school, while the others waited until I got more money. I am grateful that now the situation is not as dire as it was before.

After I received my first transfers I used the most part of it to clear the debts I had in tuition fee and then used the rest to cater for food which was about KES 400. When it comes to the most recent transfers that I received, I did not deviate much in usage whe n it is in comparison to the first funds I received. Three days prior to receiving the money four of my children had been kicked out of school because I had a huge debt in school fees that I was yet to clear, so a day later after receiving the money I gave them KES 2,000 to pay for a portion of the pending debt in school fees. I was left with KES 1,000 where I used KES 500 and bought about four packets of maize flour and used the reaming balance to buy three chicks in order to begin poultry farming.

The day the money came I actually did not realise immediately that the money had arrived because I had taken my phone to the closest town for charging since I did not have electricity in my home. I saw the message at around 2 pm and I was very much excited because I was almost sure I would go to bed on an empty stomach that night since they was no meal in my home.

Honestly with my old age I can barely get work to even provide for myself and family at times but GiveDirectly has given me a slight chance to fend and provide for my family. My children managed to go back to school and were it not for the money I received they would have probably stayed home for the longest time possible so I am grateful.

I had been going through some financial difficulties before receiving the funds which almost seems to be my norm since I barely have a job and I struggle to cater for my family. So when I received the money I decide to first take care of tuition fee for two of my kids since they had not attented school for three days now just because I had no money to clear the debt they had in school. I therefore gave them KES 500 to be split among them equally of which did not mean the debt was cleared but they could be allowed back to class for the mean time. As for what was remaining I went ahead and bought five packets of maize flour so that I could manage to feed my family and myself because we completely had nothing in the house. It cost me around KES 625 and to that point my money was done.