In the coming year and beyond, I plan to invest my transfers in goat rearing. I love goats because they are resistant to diseases, multiply quickly, and are highly marketable. I'm happy to say that I have already purchased six goats using my transfers, and one of them was pregnant and recently gave birth to twins. In the long run, I plan to barter these goats to acquire a dairy cow. I prefer dairy cows because they also reproduce, and if I ever need to sell one, they can bring in a good amount of money. This initiative will serve as my future financial investment, and in case I face any financial crisis, I can sell some goats or the dairy cow to support myself and pay for my children's school fees. With the ongoing food crisis and the need to pay school fees, I will continue to use my GiveDirectly transfers to support these efforts and secure a stable future for my family.

Before GiveDirectly, life was extremely difficult because I didn't have a reliable source of income, making it hard to plan for the future. I have three children in school—two in upper primary and one in lower primary. To provide for my family, I burn and sell charcoal, farm, and sell firewood just to make ends meet. With my most recent transfer, I spent $13.50 on food for the family. We are currently facing a drought, so whatever little we earn goes toward buying food to ensure our children don't go to school hungry. I used the remaining $88.50 to pay school fees for my three children, as I didn’t want them to be sent home due to unpaid balances. That’s why I prioritized clearing their fees with a larger portion of the transfer.

I have had dreams that always felt far fetched because I could not imagine any of it happening because my earnings could not allow it. Now I can dream with the facilitation to dream. I would want to buy some animals and rear them to help cushion us at different times. I have four goats and 1 duck and I hope to get this to 10 goats and 10 ducks.

I am so grateful for Givedirectly which has allowed me to have a livable life. We had had so many days where we would go hungry because we would not have made enough from our small business of selling firewood, water and charcoal. My children had at times gone up to four days with nothing to eat. Now thanks to the transfers we are able to get food for our families we spent $42 on buying food for the home. We were also able to pay school fees for the children at $60.

I had wanted to get more animals as an investment but I have had to long since put that dream on hold. My children are growing up fast and they all need to get through school. I want to direct my finances from the transfers to their school fees for the next year to ensure they all finish school. My husband and I do not make much and so we cannot educate the children on our own. We are thankful for Givedirectly transfers and I hope that we are able to get the children to secondary school using this transfers.

Thanks to Givedirectly all my children are in school. I had my oldest join Junior high school early this year, I was able to buy the child's school uniform, shoes and socks at $18.5. I also paid school fees for my child and bought books for this child at $30. My two younger ones were also in school, I spent $30 to clear their school fee as well as I got books for them at $6. I also got food at $16.5 and toiletries at $2.5.

In the upcoming year, my aim is to purchase a goat that I will raise, viewing it as a valuable investment. The intention behind acquiring the goat is to have a potential asset that can be sold, particularly if the need arises to cover school fees for my children. To realize this goal, I plan to save subsequent transfers, allowing me to gradually work towards acquiring the goat. The prospect of achieving this goal brings me a sense of satisfaction, as it signifies the positive changes in my life.

As a mother of five children who rely on me for all their needs, life in the village has been challenging. My husband's water-selling business in Mombasa has faced difficulties, and my dependence on farming alone proved insufficient to cover essential expenses such as food, clothing, and school fees. The arrival of GiveDirectly has brought a welcome ray of light and hope to my family. The transfers we receive have significantly supplemented our incomes, enabling us to afford both food and school fees. Out of the received funds, $68 was allocated to settle a pending school fees debt, preventing it from carrying over to the next academic year as the school was about to close. The remaining $34 was used to purchase much-needed food for my family during a time of scarcity. I am sincerely grateful to the organization for making a positive impact on our lives during these challenging times.

My main goal is to buy livestock (goats) for rearing so that in the future, I sell them to help educate my children without much struggle. I have started saving some little amount and with time, I would be in a better position to purchase the livestock.

I received my recent transfers at a time that I was experiencing financial challenges. I had no food and no money to pay for my children's school fees. With the challenges, I decided to spend KES.1200 on school fees and KES. 2270 on food. I now feel relieved since my children are now in a position to feed and never worried of the school fees.

My sole source of income is burning of charcoal and splitting of firewood. I usually have a vendor in Mariakani who sells the charcoal for me. However, due to low demand, it may take him two months to sell two sacks of charcoal for KES 600. This is why I resort to splitting and selling firewood, which earns me no more than KES 100 per day. This income is extremely unreliable in meeting my family's needs, such as food, due to the high commodity prices. In fact, my family had run out of food five days before the transfers arrived, leaving us sleeping hungry consecutively. In addition, my three children had constantly been missing classes because they owed KES 900 in school fees. To resolve this, I paid the school KES 1000, and they resumed studies. 

Both my husband and I are casual laborers, earning very little from our respective jobs. I make and sell charcoal while my husband sells water for his boss in Mombasa and is paid monthly. I struggle a lot in my business because making charcoal is tedious and generates low income due to the low demand by the consumers. A bag of charcoal goes for KES 500 and it takes up to one or four days for the charcoal to be ready. I take up to three months before I can sell a bag of charcoal because of the delays in transporting the charcoal to town. My husband experienced delayed payments from his boss, making it difficult to cater to the essential needs (buying food, clothes, and medication) of the family. When I received my transfer, I spent KES 1000 on buying food for the family because we had exhausted the food stock. We had no money to buy more stock, forcing us to sleep hungry occasionally and survive on one meal per day. In addition, I paid school fees for my three children, who were on the verge of being sent home to pick up school fees. Paying the school fees ensured they remained in school and did not interrupt their studies.

Unfortunately four days before receiving the money my children were kicked out of school because I had a huge debt in tuition fee that I was yet to clear. So when I received the money I went ahead and I paid the school administration KES 1,000 so that my kids would be allowed back to the premises and so that they no longer had to miss out. I was left with KES 2,000 and with it I bought a bag of maize flour that had twelve packets and it was sold to me for KES 1,300 and as for what was left I went on to buy sugar, sardines and drinking water because it was scarce in my area and I had to get it from a different town.

I used the first transfer on food. Upon receiving the second transfer, I decided to use it to clear the balance at my children's school. I had previously paid some amount and was left with some that'd pay later. Hence, used the transfer for that. I then used the third transfer to buy food as it was during the festive season and the remaining KES 2000 went to school fees payment.

In my opinion, GiveDirectly does well in terms of dealing with us recipients directly. This is a good move in that every needy is assured of getting the help. We have been in a scenario before where I was registered by another group to receive aid but I was never helped. I am now happy that I was enrolled in the program and I can say this because GiveDirectly deals directly with the recipient.

I spent KSH 1000 of the transfer in paying school fees for my children. I do not have a job and neither does my husband. The little jobs we do earn us just enough to feed ourselves and our children. I am very passionate about education. I want my children to get an education so that they can have a good future. My priority was paying the school fees so that they are not chased away from school. I also spent KSH 2000 buying food for my family. When you do not know where your next meal is going to come from, it is really bad. That is the situation I am currently in and sometimes it gets even worse when we have nothing to eat for several days. Purchasing the food was among the priorities because we did not have any food left ourselves in the house.

I always wake up early. So on this fateful day, I was headed to work and on the way, I happened to meet some Give Directly staff who were going about their business. After sharing with them warm greetings as our culture does require us to do, they did inform me that I should expect funds in my account any time that day. I went ahead to my work area and later that day I received a confirmation message about me receiving the funds. I was a happy man. I informed my wife and later that evening when I was back home we sat down with my wife and planned how best to use the money.

The biggest difference in my life is that I am now able to pay school fees for my children without much struggle unlike before. In addition, I am leaving a stress-free life because I don’t have to struggle much as I did before. Now that my daughter’s school fees have been taken care of I am very happy and thankful for that.

I spent a large portion of the money on paying school fees for my daughter. I believe in girl child empowerment. During my time when I was a kid, the girl child was neglected and no emphasis was taken to educate them. I now want to change that with my daughter who is currently in form 2. When I received the money I used all the amount to pay her school fees. I want her to be able to continue with her education without any hiccups. I am thankful that the finds were made available and I did pay for my child's school fees. I have other children who are still young compared to the one in secondary. I want her to perform well in her studies so that her siblings and look up to her and also help them out.