I am eager to utilize my upcoming transfers to enhance my poultry-raising enterprise, aiming to augment the size of my hen population and thereby boost my revenue from chicken sales. The invaluable financial assistance I've received has enabled me to make prudent investments, fostering financial stability for the future, a prospect that fills me with great satisfaction.

At the start of the year, I allocated $20 towards my daughter's school fees, securing her continued education without the risk of being sent home due to outstanding fees. This expenditure allowed me to safeguard her academic journey. With careful financial planning, I set aside the same amount, intending to invest it in expanding my poultry sales in the upcoming months, foreseeing a potential increase in income. Having sold nine hens in December, I reinvested $14 to acquire two more, anticipating their multiplication over time. By year-end, this strategic investment should yield a substantial flock for sale, bolstering my earnings. Additionally, I allocated $9 towards purchasing feed for the hens, ensuring their optimal growth and reproduction rates. To meet personal and household needs, I allocated another $14 towards acquiring essential items and provisions. I deeply appreciate the ongoing financial support I've received, which has significantly enhanced my standard of living.

My primary aspiration has always centered around establishing a successful livestock rearing project. Initially, I embarked on this journey with the purchase of three goats, utilizing my previous transfers as capital. However, my ambition is to further expand this endeavor by steadily adding more to my flock. To ensure consistent progress, I have committed to setting aside a minimum of $10 regularly. By December, I aim to see my livestock count grow to at least 10 goats, bringing me one step closer to realizing my long-held dream of a thriving and sustainable livestock enterprise.

Receiving the GiveDirectly transfers came at a crucial moment in my life. As an accounts clerk at a nearby secondary school, I had been grappling with delayed salary payments, which had put immense strain on my ability to provide for my family, especially since my husband also lacked a steady source of income. The $34.70 I received was a lifeline for us, and every cent was dedicated to ensuring we had enough food on our table. No words could express how grateful I was for this assistance, as it provided the much-needed relief during a challenging period, allowing my family to have meals and alleviating the financial burden we were facing.

I am married to a hardworking doctor, and we both strive to support our family. I, too, put in significant effort because my siblings rely on my income. As soon as I receive my salary, it seems to be spent immediately due to our pressing needs. Currently, I am working towards expanding my flock of 15 chickens and adding more goats to the existing 6. This plan aims to provide us with a safety net so that when our family faces challenges, we can readily sell the animals and fulfill our requirements.

As an accountant employed at a secondary school near my home, I consistently prioritize the payment of my children's fees as soon as my salary is received. To address any financial gaps, I rely on transfers throughout the month to meet our basic needs. In a recent instance, I allocated $15 from the transfers to purchase food, which my family and I thoroughly enjoyed. With the remaining funds, I was able to procure chicken feed to sustain my flock of 15 chickens. Furthermore, I prudently set aside $0.15 from my own transfers as an emergency fund, ensuring preparedness for unforeseen circumstances.

My objective is to have more than 100 hens in the henhouse that are ready to be sold by the end of this year. This will be accomplished by continuously investing in the purchase of hen feed, purchasing medications whenever they become ill, and building a larger and more roomy henhouse to accommodate all the hens. If this project is a success, I will have a reliable source of income and will be able to support myself.

Together, my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and I made the decision to start a poultry farm. In order to ensure their security and rapid development, we first used our transfers to construct a henhouse. Following that, we purchased a total of 28 hens that are currently maturing and getting ready to be sold. I bought an additional three hens to make a total of 31 hens after receiving my January transfer. I'm happy to see that there are more and that the hens will soon be available for sale. I spent $7 on animal feed in order to aid in their healthy growth. I then used the $12 that was left to buy food for my family. I can only purchase food at very high prices from the store due to the effects of the drought because there isn't any to harvest from the farm. We depend on the transfer payment to assist us in providing for our families' nutritional needs.

GiveDirectly helped many families who used to work as casual laborers in the village, earning pitiful wages that could not support their families. Giving us monetary assistance was a well-thought-out plan that met the needs of each recipient. Choosing what to spend my money on taught me responsibility and the ability to account for every coin whenever I received a call from the office. I am grateful and hopeful that with your continued assistance, our standard of living will continue to rise. I have nothing against the project, but I would be grateful if we could get an addition to help with the high cost of living.

Getting enough food to feed our current family of ten has been a challenge we have always overcome through a collaborative effort since we began receiving transfers from GiveDirectly. I am glad that the six of us who received the transfer within the family have been willing to contribute the same agreed-upon amount for the household goods. We each contributed $130 from the previous transfer, which we later spent on food that we are still using as we await the next transfer. I am also currently running a small poultry project with 15 birds. Buying them feed has also been difficult, but I am grateful for the occasional assistance I have received from my cousins who are scouting the same project and hope to invest in it in the future. I used the remaining funds to purchase a 50kg bag of chicken feed, which is currently $180. These supplements will help them improve their health, productivity, and growth.

I was actually on my way to bed when the funds came in that day, but I was very much excited to realize that GiveDirectly kept its word, because initially I thought it could have a hoax and in my defence I had never come across anything like it but I'm glad they proved me wrong.

From my own experience being able to start the project and expanding with buying more hens was most important and for me especially because I had started this project a while back, but I had to put a pause on it when I ran out of money and the hens were affected with some disease. Therefore I'm glad that now I'm back on track and I see a future for myself financially when it comes to this investment.

Back here in the village we leave together with my extended family and lucky for us, a couple of us managed to get enrolled into the program therefore when the four of us received the money we decided to come together as a family and contribute KES 1,000 each so that to ensure we had nutrition since we all share the meals in the home. We ended up using the money we contributed to buy a dozen packets of maize flour, five kilograms of sugar, two packets o wheat flour and five kilograms of rice. Afterwards I decided to spend KES 300 in buying chicken feed since I'd already started investing in poultry farming. I also spent KES 1,250 and bought five hens plus the other three I owned accumulated to eight. I was left with about KES 450 which I ended up using on buying laundry detergent.