The house we currently live in is in dire condition, with the structure nearly collapsing due to its age and the heavy rainfall we've been experiencing, causing the pillars to rot. This poses a serious danger to my family, and I constantly worry, especially at night while we're sleeping. To address this urgent situation, I am considering selling one of my cows to raise funds for purchasing building materials, supplementing this with my monthly transfers from GiveDirectly. I plan to gradually buy these materials every month upon receiving the transfer. However, completion may take time given my responsibilities with my children and reliance on unreliable casual jobs to support my family. Despite the challenges, I am encouraged and empowered by GiveDirectly's support, which gives me hope and determination to secure a safer living environment for my family.

I have a family of seven children, with five currently attending school and the youngest two not yet of school age. My wife and I rely on casual jobs and farming to support our family. When I received my recent transfer, I allocated $34 towards buying seeds, fertilizer, and partly hiring a tractor to assist with tilling the land. This was a priority to ensure we could catch up with the rains and expedite the work. Additionally, I set aside another $34 to save for purchasing building materials, as our current house is on the verge of collapsing, and I aim to construct a new one as soon as possible. Lastly, I used the remaining $34 to pay school fees for my school-going children. This was important to me as I wanted to prevent them from being sent home due to fee balances and ensure they have a conducive environment to study in peace.

The house we're currently living in is almost collapsing since it's old and the heavy rainfall that we have been experiencing for some time now has made its pillars to start rotting. Due to this, it has posed danger to my family and I always pray that it does not collapse especially at night when we're sleeping. Because of this, I am planning to either sell one of my livestock and use the money to purchase some building materials or utilize my monthly transfers. At the moment, I am planning to go with the second option. I will be buying the building materials in bits every month whenever I receive the transfer. Though it will take time before coming into completion, it's my best option since I do not like the idea of selling the assets that I struggled so much to acquire.

We're fast approaching the festive season where every family is celebrating Christmas in different ways. Buying of new clothes and shoes has always been the norm especially for the children. With my most recent transfer, I decided to spend $ 26 on buying clothes for my children so that they will not be left out and be among those who will be laughed at for wearing old clothes. In addition, I used $31 to pay for their school fees so that they would not be sent back home since the end of year examinations were fast approaching. Aside form this, I spent $ 30 from my transfer on farming and $ 15 on food to last my family for some time. On farming, I hired some people to help me with the weeding of our maize plantation since we would not have managed on our own as a family. I do any available casual work in the neighborhood and the money that I usually receive is not always enough to cater for our needs. Due to this, I am grateful to GiveDirectly for the financial support that they have been giving us.

I am determined to restore my deteriorating house, which currently faces numerous issues. The roof is in dire need of attention, with rusty iron sheets that have aged to the point of developing holes, causing rainwater to seep in during storms. Additionally, the mud walls of the house have deteriorated and crumbled. My primary goal for the upcoming year is to restore my house to a state of good repair. The upcoming transfer of funds will be instrumental in purchasing the necessary materials for this renovation project. I am profoundly thankful for the financial support, as it will undoubtedly enhance my quality of life.

During the rainy season, I dedicated my efforts to managing my seven-acre farm where I cultivated maize, beans, and green grams. After enduring over three consecutive seasons of drought, this planting season proved to be a game-changer as we received a substantial amount of rainfall compared to previous years. In the month of July, I hired laborers to assist in clearing weeds on the farm, assuring them that their payment would come once I received my August transfers. As soon as my transfers were deposited, I promptly utilized the funds to settle the outstanding debt I owed. I am profoundly thankful for the remarkable harvest we've reaped, which is expected to sustain us for a year. This relief will significantly alleviate the burden I've carried in meeting my family's needs, especially considering the meager income generated from charcoal sales. I frequently encounter financial struggles due to my inability to achieve substantial charcoal sales, which would otherwise provide vital support to my family. I'm immensely grateful for the invaluable financial support I've received, which has been instrumental in navigating past challenging circumstances during prolonged drought periods.

I hope to accomplish two goals in my life before the end of this year. First, I am going to remain focused on my farming practices. With adequate rainfall, I believe I shall be able to realize a good harvest hence we shall have a food supply to take us for some time. Second, I am figuring out how to build a new home. I have been living in a house a mud-walled, which has been expensive to maintain. I will be able to live in a better and more accommodating place once I have a new house. As a result, I will not be worried because my children will have a place to sleep at.

I am a livestock keeper and a mixed crop farmer. However, my wife has no job except doing domestic chores. I am delighted the recent transfers were sent when I had already started preparing my farm, and it was nearly done. Therefore, I opted to spend $20 from my recent transfer, which I have used to buy seeds for the planting season. I bought food with the rest of the transfer since we had insufficient food. I am glad that despite the tough current situation, GiveDirectly transfers have made life more bearable.

As the head of my family, am responsible for providing a safe shelter for my wife and five children. Sadly, my current house is very old, and unstable, and could easily collapse from adverse weather like strong winds or heavy rains. So, I aim to build a three-room house made of mud walls and a tin roof, an exercise that will cost at least $1500. Though I bear huge financial burdens like my children’s school fees, I wish to start saving at least half of each cash transfer towards the construction project. I hope my charcoal-burning hustle will yield enough for my family’s basic needs so that I can direct the cash transfers to the house.

I spent most of my transfer on the funeral arrangements of my uncle who had passed on the previous week. As part of the family, it was my responsibility to contribute towards the send-off ceremony, in terms of buying food for the visitors. I used $21 for this purpose alone. The cash transfer came as a relief to me during such a difficult moment. Other than that, I spent $8 to buy maize flour for my wife and seven children. Though the food could not last us to date, am grateful that my family got to enjoy regular meals for a couple of days as I bought time to raise more money through charcoal burning. I used the remaining amount to slice off a debt of $8 at the shop, which had accrued since the month began. I am glad that the shopowner is generous to allow me to acquire food on credit with a promise to repay later. And repaying the debt instilled in him more confidence to help me in the future. 

Prior to receiving the money I had a couple of debts that I needed to settle so as soon as I received the money that's the first thing I was looked into. I had debt in tuition fee, so I ended up paying KES 1,500 for my three children. I also had another debt at one of our neighborhood stores where I had kept taking items when we had ran out of food but in my home, so I ended up paying KES 1,000 of the KES 1,200 I owed. I was left with about KES 500 which I ended up using on purchasing two packets of maize flour and sugar since we barely had any food in the house and had the previous night had gone to bed on an empty stomach.

I am not aware of any other NGO that is as committed to providing direct cash transfers as GiveDirectly. This model does a good job of guaranteeing that the cash it distributes to its recipients is unconditional, and we are free to prioritize how we spend our transfer to get the most out of it. This, in my opinion, is what GiveDirectly does so well. However, many recipients have expressed worry about the unpredictability of the transfer dates.

I have for years relied on rainfed agriculture as a peasant farmer. Unfortunately, insufficient rainfall occurred during the previous season, resulting in crop failure. As a result, because I do not have any other sources of money, I have been struggling to feed the family. To help support the family, I took on a tough part-time work manufacturing charcoal for sale, which has since become unsustainable due to the present low demand for charcoal. I had no money to buy food until the day transfer was delivered, so I borrowed KES 500 worth of food from a nearby shop. I am delighted I was able to pay off the debts with the transfer. In addition, I was able to buy food for a family of 7 with the tansfer balance.

It was early in the morning and I was finding words to convince the shopkeeper to extend his credit service because my household ran out of food and my charcoal business was not promising at the moment.My day was filled with happiness after receiving that mpesa message. I felt like my prayers were answered promptly because deep inside me I was tired of the constant insults and reminders of the shopkeeper asking for his money.I could not hold back my joy but shared with my family who celebrated with me.

Financial constraints have been the biggest challenge have had to go through working as a charcoal burner. The inconsistency in the income is quite oppressing and am lured to drain myself in debts all the time.Givedirectly transfers have enabled me regain my trust with my nearby shopkeeper and at the least even with my financial crisis as a family we are able to plan ahead atleast in terms of food.Its enough to be able to provide food for my family as one of the basic needs. I feel that is the biggest difference in my daily life ever since I started receiving this funds.

Charcoal burning business is the main source of income in my house. I work together with my wife as she helps to take the end product to the market.We have been struggling financially as we make KES 700 in a week.Due to the financial constraints the nearby small shop has been a vital lifeline to my family and we have been getting goods on credit. I spent KES 1680 of my transfer paying the debt at the shop and bought more food for my family with the remaining KES 1320.I was content knowing that the food would last my family of seven members the next two weeks.