I have grown up admiring being financially stable and independent. My goal is to save from my business and open a small restaurant. I am planning to save and start with as little as $200. Once the business picks up, I will assist my mother in educating my three sisters and support my family of two children.

The transfers have brought a big difference in my life. I was running a restaurant and doing so well until when the country faced the pandemic and the situation forced me to close up. My husband left me with two children and with nothing. The support program is a gift and a blessing to me because I have started all over again and I can provide a meal for my children, which was a struggle before. It’s unbelievable that I own two businesses. What more could I ask for? I would like the organization to continue supporting people living in poverty and changing their lives as they changed mine.

I am a single mother of two children. Being born and raised by a single mother is a struggle. I have watched my mother struggle to raise the six of us until we completed high school and moved from home. My mother is a casual laborer who works as a charcoal burner, digging access holes to earn a living and most of the time it is a struggle to pay for my sibling’s school fees who are all in high school. When I received my first transfer, I used to open a charcoal business. Charcoal was in high demand, and I spent the rest of the money on buying livestock and buying some clothes for my family. The second transfer came, and I invested $170 in the business of selling sandals, as the charcoal business was on the low. My daughter was unwell, and I used $50 on her medication. My younger sister was sent home, and I took her back to school and paid for her school fees of $100, including her transport back to the school of $20. I also spent another $110 on food that would last my family for the next two months and saved the rest of the amount in case of unexpected costs, now that I am running two businesses concurrently.

I was very thrilled when I got the funds from give directly. Being a single mother of two and unemployed, I was really struggling financially and would often turn to my mother for support. To try and make ends meet, I would practice some subsistence farming. Now with the money, I was optimistic I would be able to better myself and be financially independent.

There has been a great difference in my life ever since I started receiving these funds from give directly.  My 3-year-old had navel problems and she was treated and got better. She, together with her sibling, now have new clothes that they would wear and whenever we go out, they look better and shinier. In addition to this, I also wanted a permanent solution to the financial hardship that I was going through. So, I reopened my restaurant business and bought two goats. Now I can proudly say that we are feeding well and have a better life. It is way easier now for me to raise my children despite being a single mother

I am a single mother of two, before I gave birth to my last born, I used to run a restaurant business but I was forced to close it when I went for my maternity break. This is so I could tend to my children better. After I ran out of funds, I started depending on the farming I practiced. However, I was unable to meet most of our needs. So, often I would depend on my mother for financial support. Unfortunately, a while back, before I received the funds from give directly, my three-year-old developed a navel problem where it would swell and become painful and I lacked the money to take her to the hospital. So, when I got my transfer, I immediately rushed her to the hospital and she was treated. I then bought my children some decent clothes to wear whenever we would go out, the ones they had were torn and very old. To progress myself, I then bought two goats as a way to improve my farming practice and I also reopened the restaurant business I had closed when I went on a maternity break. Since the amount that remained was not enough to facilitate the construction of the two-roomed house I plan on building so I could move in with my children, and move from the one we live in as it is on the verge of collapse and it's only a single room. I, therefore, opted to save it and once I get my next transfer I will start working on this project