In the coming months and years, my goal is to achieve several important milestones. First, I plan to open a kiosk and eventually expand into an open café, providing a steady source of income for my family. Simultaneously, I aim to complete construction on our house soon. This will enable us to settle comfortably and focus on our ventures. I am relying on the support of transfers, which I deeply appreciate, to help make these dreams a reality.

As a casual worker burning charcoal, I earn very little, most of which goes towards providing for my two dependent children. I rely on my brother, who is also a casual worker with his own family, for support. The quarterly transfers from GiveDirectly have been a great help, I used $87 to pay off a debt on building materials for a house I plan to start building in July. Currently, I live in a leaking house made of old, rusty iron sheets, so I am incredibly grateful for the progress I'm making towards a safer and more comfortable home. With food from our shamba (farm), I can now focus on building the house. I saved the remaining amount from the transfer to invest in goats for my future and to cover any financial emergencies. I just need a few more materials to accumulate before I can start building, and I hope to finish the house by August. With three children, two of whom depend on me, this new home will not only provide shelter but also restore a sense of dignity and normalcy to our lives.

A significant milestone I aim to achieve in the forthcoming months is the consistent and timely completion of payments for the iron sheets. Upon accomplishing this, my next initiative will involve procuring new building poles to reinforce the mud walls, which have begun to exhibit substantial cracks. The ongoing support from the transfers has been instrumental in propelling me towards the realization of my enduring aspiration for a more improved dwelling, for which I am sincerely grateful.

The roofing of my residence is in dire need of repair. The aging, rusty, and perforated iron sheets allow rainwater to seep in during downpours. Upon joining the cash program, I made the decision to acquire 33 new iron sheets through a hire purchase arrangement. These new iron sheets will facilitate the comprehensive refurbishment of the entire roof, replacing the old, deteriorated ones. To cover the cost, I commit to paying $28 in monthly installments for the iron sheets, with a total of $112 already remitted. Utilizing the remaining $18, I settled the school fees for my son, who is in class six at Ikanga Primary School. Despite earning a modest income from a charcoal vending business, I am optimistic that soon, I will have a comfortable home with improved living conditions. The invaluable financial support from the transfers has been instrumental in realizing this progress, for which I am deeply grateful.

Looking ahead to the coming year and beyond, my primary goal is to complete the construction of the new house. The current state of my house is not suitable for living due to the leaking roof and weakened walls. I have confidence in the cash transfers, and I believe that with the recent maize harvest, I can alleviate the financial constraints on the transfer funds. This will enable me to repay the debt faster and start saving for other necessary building materials such as poles. Once I have gathered all the required resources, I plan to hire someone to construct the house according to my specifications. I envision a two-roomed house with mud walls reinforced by concrete pillars and an iron sheet roof. This new house will provide my family with a safe and comfortable shelter.

The roof of my house is in poor condition as it has corroded over time, developed rust, and developed perforations which allow water to leak in whenever it rains, causing dampness in the house. Additionally, the walls of my house are made of mud, and they have weakened over time, raising concerns that the house may eventually collapse, leaving me homeless and in need of shelter from others. I am determined to prevent this from happening. My goal is to build a new house with mud walls and an iron sheet roof. However, I plan to reinforce the mud walls with concrete pillars to make them more sturdy and durable. Since I lack a reliable source of funding, I decided to take out a loan of $400 from my savings Sacco to purchase building materials. With the loan, I was able to secure 30 iron sheets for the new house. I have been using the cash transfers I receive to repay this loan gradually. From the recent transfer, I allocated $20 to continue repaying the debt. The remaining $14 from the transfer was used to purchase food because my household had run out of food, and we were still waiting to harvest from our farms.

My greatest accomplishment this year will be to improve the condition of my home. Specifically, I want to focused on repairing the roof of the house. Once this is complete, I plan on building concrete pillars around the house to make it even safer and more secure. Moving into a renovated home will bring me peace of mind and a sense of security. It will also make me proud to live in my own home and put an end to my reliance on relatives for accommodation.

Since enrolling in the program, I have been working hard to improve my living conditions. Specifically, I have been focused on repairing my three-roomed house. The grass-thatched roof was severely leaking due to rot, and some of the poles and mud walls had become weak and developed holes. To address these issues, I purchased thirty pieces of iron sheets, nails, and some timber on hire purchase, which I am still paying off. Every month, $25 from my transfers goes towards paying off this debt. I am grateful for the transfers as they have helped me achieve one of my long-term dreams of improving my home. In addition to the iron sheets, I also purchased two hens for $4. I plan on rearing them until they multiply in number, and then selling some to generate income for pressing needs like paying for my son's school fees. With the remaining $5, I purchased two packets of maize flour. Overall, I am grateful for the support provided by the program, which is helping me improve my living standards and lift my family out of poverty.

I've wanted to renovate my home for a very long time, especially the roof, which was absolutely catastrophic, especially during the rainy season. Rain would cause the iron sheets to leak, leaving the entire house sopping wet. As a result, I made the decision to go to a nearby hardware store and ask the owner if I could borrow roughly 15 pairs of iron sheets, which I will gradually pay back with each transfer I receive this year. Aside from that, I also intended to pay my son's tuition before spending the remaining funds on nourishment because it is also a struggle.

In my five-person family, I am the sole provider of income. Three children and two grandchildren are present. All of them rely on me financially to meet their needs, which include purchasing food and clothing and paying for school expenses. I make a living by selling sisal and charcoal at market days in various towns. I make a $3 profit from the sales, but this is insufficient to meet everyone's needs. Prior to getting the transfers, I got a loan of $400, which I used to replace the leaky roof on my house by purchasing 30 pieces of iron sheeting. I currently pay a $25 monthly fee to repay the loan. I used $25 of my December transfers to pay back the loan I had received from the savings group. With the remaining $9, I made food purchases that we shared with my family during the holiday season. I'm grateful that the money allowed me to pay back my loan during this difficult period for the economy.

After getting enrolled into the program I decided that I wanted to build a better home for myself because the one I was living in was quite old. Therefore I decided to spend KES 2,000 to purchase iron sheets. Afterwards I went on to spend the remaining balance of KES 500 on paying tuition for my child who had out of school for three days. Lastly I spent the remaining KES 500 by purchasing two packets of maize flour for nutrition.

I would like to commend the organization for the quality of service offered to us by their staff members. This shunned away from any cases of biasness and fostered satisfaction in every recipient within the village. I would, however, recommend additional time allocated during enrolment to make sure they enrolled every eligible recipient in the program.  

My life after separating from my husband took a turn for the worst. I was forced to go back to my ancestral home and start a new life as the sole breadwinner of my two children. With poor grades and a low education level ( dropped out of school at 16 years), I was forced to settle on selling charcoal and sisal ropes in the market since I could not attract any white-collar job. The casual jobs I engage in earn me very little and I often cannot cater to all my family’s needs (food, school fees, and clothing). This forced my family to reduce the number of meals from three to one meal per day to avoid sleeping on an empty stomach. Therefore, when I received my transfer of KES 3000, I spent KES 1000 on buying food for my family to add to the almost finishing stock of food in the house. Besides buying food, I spent KES 1000 on paying off an accrued school fee debt for my two children from the previous term for them to be admitted back to school and continue with their studies.    

I was heading back home while carrying a 20-liter jerrican of water on my head. After covering over 30 km s I felt very exhausted. The sight of my house motivated me to keep going as my legs felt weak and could no longer walk. No sooner had I reached home than I received a text message confirming that I had received my first transfer. I felt thrilled as I jumped up and down while in a jovial mood. I called my daughter broke the good news to her, and she joined me in the celebrations.

Paying school fees for my daughter is the biggest difference the transfer has made in my life. My daughter will comfortably continue with her education with no interruptions. This will motivate her to put more effort into her studies unlike before when he was often sent home and got demoralized and posted poor results because of skipping classes.

After my husband passed away, I remained with the sole responsibility of educating my only daughter. I have faced a lot of challenges in doing so due to having an unstable source of income. My sisal and charcoal selling businesses are currently not doing well, affecting the amount of money I earn per day. As a result, she is often chased out of school due to school fees arrears, thus affecting his performance. Therefore, when I received my transfer, I saved KES 500 that I will use to pay part of my daughter's school fees when school reopens later this month. Besides saving for school fees, I saved the remaining KES 650 to buy iron sheets. The roof of my house is seriously leaking when it rains and my goal is to save and buy enough iron sheets and do the repairs.