The structural integrity of my home is under imminent threat as the timber supporting the roof is being gradually consumed by weevils, leading to the impending collapse of the roof. In the upcoming months, my strategy involves accumulating sufficient funds by selling some of my livestock. The proceeds from this endeavor will be earmarked for the acquisition of new poles and the construction of a replacement roof for my residence. Simultaneously, a parallel long-term objective is to procure land, where I envision the development of rental properties to generate additional income. The ongoing financial support has played a pivotal role in realizing some of these aspirations, for which I am genuinely grateful.

A significant portion of my recent transfers was allocated to acquiring livestock, a strategic investment for my future. Among my purchases were a goat, obtained for $25, and a sheep, acquired for $20. Presently, my livestock inventory includes 2 cows, 5 goats, and 4 sheep. Anticipating their multiplication, I plan to capitalize on the ensuing profits to address urgent needs. One crucial concern is the imminent collapse of my house's roof, requiring immediate repairs. Allocating a fraction of the funds, I also secured a new pair of shoes for $4. Additionally, I invested $24 in a new set of clothes for both my two children and myself. During the festive period, $28 was spent on food, resulting in enjoyable moments shared with my family. The financial support from these transfers has been instrumental in not only sustaining my family but also fostering my venture into livestock rearing, which holds promising prospects for generating income in the near future.

My house is made of soil, but because our soil type is sandy, the house is usually destroyed during the rainy season forcing me to repair it every end of a rainy season. It feels like we have a temporary structure which has to be repaired every time even though the house is pretty descent. To take care of this issue, we have decided to plaster the entire house to make it more durable and even more presentable. This, however, will require a lot of money and since I do not have any source of income, I will have to do it over a very long period of time. I know it will be very tough as I also rely on the transfers for other household and personal needs, but picturing how great the house will look and the idea of having a break from constant smearing make all the sacrifices I will make to achieve this goal even more worthwhile. In my area, having a plastered house automatically takes one to different level in the society and how great it will be for the transfers to help me achieve that.

I do not have any source of income and depend on my spouse for all of our household needs. Receiving these transfers however makes me feel like an employed person as I am able to support him by taking care of some of the house and personal requirements such as foodstuff and clothing. My transfers also help in paying school fees for our child in school who would otherwise be sent home for delayed fee payments. I feel very great as a woman because I do not have to keep pestering my husband for petty household needs like I did before I was enrolled into this program. Now, what we do is have a discussion on where I can support and it makes me feel appreciated and valued. I feel very independent and is mostly pleased that I can personally take care of my personal needs such as purchasing of clothes and personal effects without having to advertise it to my husband by asking him for the money to purchase the items.

I live in a house made of mud and it is my goal to live in a more permanent house that will make my work during cleaning much easier. With this, it is my desire to build a brick house for my family and I believe that I will achieve this with time. In addition, it's my desire to own a piece of land where I can build some rental units. This will be an investment that I will not only enjoy but my children will also live to benefit from it. With the rental units in place and all occupied, it will be much easier for me to meet my family's needs on time.

I run a small grocery business in my neighborhood and upon receiving my most KES 2000 to expand it. This is because I used to have a few items to sell and I would at times run short of stock thus leaving my customers to go and buy what they need from other seller. Expanding this business using the transfer was the only option I had to curb my recurrent loses and to increase the proceeds from this business. Aside from this, I spent KES 1000 on food to last my family for a few days and used the remainder to buy myself a pair of shoes and t-shirts for my children since we did not have any.

My long term plan is to buy a plot of land. Purchasing a plot would be really helpful as I hope to put up houses/ spaces for rent in that piece of land. I have been using my transfers to run my grocery buisness which I hope I will also get something to work towards building my finacnes . I am also saving an amount towards my goal. I am saving about 2000 a month in my house which I hope to use to buy this piece of land so I can increase my income to improve life day to day.

To be honest, the transfers are gradually transforming the lives of my family and I could never be happier. If it were up to my husband’s job of selling chewing stick toothbrushes, I would not be a proud owner of a goat, more so, my household would still be constantly running out of food. Immediately after I received the cash transfer, I channeled $20 toward acquiring the goat I currently own. This is certainly an investment that will keep on multiplying and increasing in value, thereby generating enough money to keep my family going. After that, I spent $10 on Christmas shopping, which mostly included foodstuff. Am glad that my two children, husband, and I had a great change of diet on Christmas day, all credits to Give Directly. I bought my children's shoes with the remaining amount. Their old scandals had worn out and they used to complain of being pricked by thorns. Looking at how far my family has come as a result of the transfers, I could only imagine how brighter the future seems.  

I applaud Give Directly for providing us with unconditional transfers that are improving our lives. Prior to receiving the transfers, my life was filled with struggle to the point of being unable to feed my family. Currently, I am optimistic and look forward to receiving my next transfer and investing the money to lift my life out of poverty. I urge the organization to maintain the same level of consistency when sending transfers, as our survival is heavily reliant on them.

My husband is the only provider for the family and makes a living by hawking traditional toothbrushes in Mombasa. The difficult economic environment has caused his business to struggle. This has had a negative impact on his ability to support the family. Due to a lack of funds to purchase food, we are occasionally forced to sleep on an empty stomach. I feel helpless that I am unable to assist him with paying the household bills because I am unemployed. My primary source of income comes from working on the farm, but due to the lack of rain over the past three years, it has been challenging to grow any crops for consumption. Consequently, when I got my transfer, I gave priority to buying food for the family. We had no money to buy food, so we were only eating one meal a day. In addition to purchasing food, I replaced my daughter's worn-out school uniform with a new one. I spent the $15 that was left over on a goat. The desire to amass wealth over time is the driving force behind purchasing the goat. I will eventually sell some of the goat's offspring after it multiplies, and I'll use the proceeds to cover my daughter's education costs.

I received the transfer at around 3 p.m. when I was fetching water at the stream. A wave of relief rushed over me because I had been worried since the previous day after my friends told me they had received their transfer, while I had not. I was excited at the thought of clearing my son's school fees and getting him back to school after a day of missing classes.

The greatest difference brought to my life by the transfers was the ability to settle my son's pending school fees of KES 600 and get him to class. Before the transfer, he had stayed home for an entire day owing to the overdue fee balances at school that I could not afford. Gladly, after clearing the amount, he has been studying peacefully without interruptions.

My son had missed classes for a day owing to an overdue school fee balance when I received the transfer. His father had not earned enough money, from his business of selling chewing sticks in Mombasa, to return him to school. So, I deducted KES 600 from the transfer to settle this debt and my son happily resumed his studies. Also, the family had been surviving on tea alone for the previous two days because there was no money to buy food. As a result, I used KES 400 to buy maize flour, which lasted until yesterday. The remaining amount went towards the purchase of new scandals for myself since the old ones were torn beyond repair. I would sometimes hold them together with sisal strings to serve the purpose.