While I initially desired to invest my transfers in purchasing livestock, my priority now lies in allocating the funds towards my children's school fees. Given the substantial financial demands of their education, I am compelled to focus on ensuring their tuition payments are covered. Witnessing their successful completion of education and pursuit of their career aspirations will bring me immense joy. I am deeply appreciative of the financial assistance provided by Give Directly, which has enabled me to support my children's educational journey.

I have two children currently attending secondary school, one in Form 2 and the other in Form 3. Their educational expenses rely on my financial support. Recently, I allocated $98 to acquire new school uniforms for both of them, replacing their worn-out attire. Additionally, $4 was spent on purchasing books and stationery items essential for their studies. However, there remains an outstanding school fee balance of $90, which I plan to settle using my forthcoming transfers. I am immensely grateful for the assistance provided by Give Directly, as it has significantly contributed to my children's education. Their continued enrollment in school, enabled by these transfers, fills me with joy and appreciation, recognizing that without this financial aid, such educational opportunities would not be feasible.

My greatest aspiration is to witness all three of my children successfully completing their high school education. In the past, the constant struggle to pay their school fees often resulted in them being sent home, negatively impacting their academic progress. I harboured concerns that this situation might worsen when my husband retired from his job. Presently, we are solely reliant on subsistence farming with no source of income, making the monthly transfer our lifeline. Despite having pressing needs, such as ensuring enough food, my primary focus remains on securing my children's educational aspirations. While my financial situation may not be ideal, I am determined to ensure that their education remains uninterrupted, free from the burden of accumulating fee arrears. I am committed to utilizing the funds to support my children's education not only for the upcoming year but also for the years beyond.

I recently utilized all of my recent financial transfers to cover my children's school fees in order to prevent them from being sent home. My husband, who used to be the primary breadwinner in our family, retired from his job while still bearing the responsibility of funding the education of our three children. Two of them are in high school, and one is in junior secondary school, and it has certainly been a challenging journey to finance their education. Given our limited financial resources, we've been grappling with the mounting school fee arrears. Relying solely on government sponsorship has not been sufficient, as the support provided is minimal. Presently, we are subsistence farmers with no regular income. I am sincerely thankful for this program because, by prioritizing the transfers for educational expenses, my children have not faced any interruptions in their schooling. Timely payment of their monthly fees has lightened our financial burden and brought peace of mind to our household, knowing that I can count on receiving a monthly transfer.

I hope that the current rainy season persists, allowing us to have a bountiful harvest. This would enable me to utilize the cash aid I receive to invest in either goats or chickens for rearing. Previously, I had goats, but I had to sell them all to cover the educational expenses of my children. Presently, I have one child in secondary school and another in primary school, both of whose expenses come with their financial burdens. My husband retired from his job a long time ago, resulting in a reduction in our cash flow. Therefore, engaging in goat and chicken rearing could potentially serve as a viable source of income to support the education of my two children.

Hunger has become a concerning challenge within my household. The day I received the money, we had depleted the food in the house, and there seemed to be no immediate means to acquire more. Even my son, who occasionally finds casual work, was unable to bring home any food, indicating that he was not successful in his ventures. In response, I used $17 to purchase food, ensuring that we had enough to sustain ourselves. Additionally, considering the ongoing rainy season, I allocated $7 to purchase maize seeds to plant on my farm. Also, I received a distressing call from my son, who informed me that he would be sent home from school the following day if we didn't settle his tuition fees. Determined to prevent this, I immediately sent the remaining $10 to the school, reducing his outstanding debt. I'm relieved to say that he has not been sent home and continues to attend school.

My main goal is to get my children through school as education opens unlimited opportunities. She has a goal of paying school fees for her two school going children through GD transfers. She has no conrete plan in place on how best to achieve this. She mentiones that she is jobless and depends on farming and rain has been insufficient over the three years for her to do a full cycle when it comes to her crops. Her husband is equally a retiree who is unable to do much. when it comes to finances.

My family and I had a difficult month in November of last year. My retired teacher husband was unable to find employment. It is difficult for him to support the family because it is hard to find the construction jobs he is currently working on. I don't have a job, so I can't help. We went two days without eating in November because we did not have enough money to buy food. I obtained a $5 loan from a friend and purchased food on the third day, which we shared with my family. I repaid the loan when my transfers for December arrived. I then bought food with the remaining $29 dollars. We occasionally got by on just one meal a day and there wasn't much food left in the house. We would have starved to death if not for the assistance the money has provided.

In my opinion, what GiveDirectly is doing well is issuing out phones to us. This improved communication between us and GiveDirectly. It has also made communication between our families who are staying in other towns very easy. The standard of living also improved since the most challenge we faced was having food due to prolonged drought. This is no longer the case as many opted for food since the transfers were given unconditionally, and we had the freedom to spend the transfer. We currently can afford to buy water which was not possible before receiving the transfers. However, GiveDirectly should consider sending out the transfers at the same to avoid unnecessary misconceptions, those who receive their transfer late after others sometimes feel that they have been withdrawn from the program which is why they were delayed. 

I am a mother of 5 children and a housewife while my husband is a retired teacher. We currently depend on the pension that my husband got which is always not enough to support the entire family's basic needs such as food and fees. We have been struggling as a family to make ends meet, thanks to GiveDirectly we got these funds. Extreme drought within the village made food to be so expensive, we hardly had a three-a-day meal before receiving the transfers. We agreed with my husband that my monthly transfer will be assisting us majorly with food, as a result, I have used my recent transfer of $ 30 to stock more food for the family. I used to do subsistence farming but due to lack of rain, I haven't continued. My husband has agreed to support me with school fees for my 3 children who are in secondary. The transfer has brought joy to the family as we can afford to buy even sugar unlike before when we would only take sugarless tea or porridge. The health of the family too improved due to good eating habits which are twice a day, accompanied by a well-balanced diet. We are grateful GiveDirectly.

Although I could always assume and encourage myself that the difficult situation we were in as a family would soon be over, deep down I was hurting. I could not bear the thought of failing to feed my two-member family. I could not believe my eyes when I heard a message notification and checked to see if it was a Mpesa message. Fortunately, I was overjoyed when I found out. I had never felt like that in my life. This gave me hope because I was worried about how I would raise money to buy food. I am extremely grateful to GiveDirectly.

Since I received my transfer, the biggest difference in my life is having the capability to buy food for my family. At first, it was pretty hard, and we were just bearing the hard situation. I am so glad that currently, I can support my family with minimal stress. We are a family of six and without such kind of support, it would be hard to offer my much-needed support. As a result of the transfer, I have been in a position to do other work such as charcoal burning.

I am a peasant farmer and I always rely on rainfed agriculture. Unfortunately, for a long time, we have not had rain leading to crop yields, a situation that affected not only my community but the entire region. As soon as I received my transfer, I spent KES 1,150 on buying food. As a family, we only had foodstuff that could hardly take us even for a day. I, therefore, considered the transfer timing to be divine and it has to a great extent helped my family. With food in the house, both my husband and I could energetically engage in charcoal production to raise additional income for our daily upkeep. I am so grateful for the financial aid.