I lived an uncertain life before I became a beneficiary of Give Directly's charity program because I depended on casual jobs which were not regular and I would not be sure of getting even enough money for a meal a day. I was empowered to start a mobile money transfer service business(M-pesa) when I started receiving the transfers, which is my current main source of income. With this business, I do not have to worry about meals or money to pay my rent because I am sure of some profits at the end of the day. I am happy that I no longer have to live a life full of uncertainties, stress and worry of not having adequate money for my family's needs, all thanks to Give Directly.

I recently took a loan from my table banking group to assist me with the payment of school fees and taking care of other school requirements for my children. I took the loan because I could not raise the money from my business and did not want my children to be sent away from school for delayed fee payments. The loan is usually repaid by deducting ones savings after a certain period of time, so I would wish to save as much as I can so that I can clear the loan as soon as possible to enable me to focus on improving my business.

I am a member of a table banking group where I can sometimes take a loan without going through the long processes that one meets at the bank. For one to qualify for borrowing a good amount of money, s/he should save consistently, so I usually save most of my transfers at the group to boost my chances. I saved the whole amount I recently received in the group as I always do to increase my chances of qualifying for a good amount whenever I need a loan.

My life is currently different from how it was in that, I have a business which I am yet to own fully after offsetting the deal that I have with a friend. At least I am sure of getting money every day. I used to do casual jobs which were unreliable. Right now I am focusing on saving the monthly transfer that I began in December last year to seal the deal in order to own the business. With this in mind, I can now start planning and setting goals because I now have means of realizing this goal.

My new goal is to repay the whole amount for a business deal that I have with a friend in order to own it fully. Currently, that is the main focus. I have vowed to put all my energy to see this happen. I have done several casual jobs and I know how inefficient it can be especially when one has a family and bills to pay. To me, this is the only chance I have to change my life.

There is a deal that I have made with a friend. We agreed that he lives his Mpesa business for me and in the end, I pay him the whole amount of money in a lump sum. The business is doing well and I have even started expanding it by selling sodas. When I got the monthly transfer, I topped up some amount and kept the whole of it as savings. I have been doing this since December last year and I am hopeful of paying him the whole money for me to own it fully. I am so passionate about this because I do not want to go back to casual jobs which are unreliable.

The money transaction business I bought has really boosted my daily income and I am currently able to better provide for my family. With transfers taking care of the balance I have after failing to pay for the business in full, I am at ease because what I make from the business is for my own use. My kids have not been sent away from school since the beginning of this year as was mostly the case last year because I have always managed to pay their school fees in good time. I have also managed to improve my general lifestyle by buying some critical household items such as a gas cooker which I never had before and was unable to buy due to low income.

My biggest goal at the moment is to complete the payment on the Money Agent shop I purchased from my friend before I can focus on any other additional goals. What I would love to do after clearing the payment is to use the transfers to expand the business by bringing in more money services such as becoming an agent for the local banks for more income.

After realizing that GD project was real, I decided to buy Money Transaction Agent shop from a friend of mine who had an opportunity to relocate to the US. I was not able to pay the full amount required at the time so requested her to give me more time to raise the money which I knew I would get through GD transfers. I have been saving all my monthly transfers from GD including this month's in my table banking group with the aim of raising enough money to clear the balance.

My goal is to expand this Mpesa business and include mobile money agent services in the shop such as Equity money, Cooperative bank agent and KCB money.

The biggest difference in my daily life is that I now have an Mpesa business that I am currently purchasing with the transfers. This business is also less stressful as compared to the previous businesses I have been involved with, like frying and selling french fries.

I spent my transfers to invest in an Mpesa business. I had a friend here in Mathare who was also my neighbor, and who owned an Mpesa shop. My friend tried out the green card lottery competition and she was lucky to win the lottery. She flew to the United States of America last year, 2018, in December. This friend left me her Mpesa shop on agreement that I would pay her some amount of money every month, until I complete paying the whole amount for buying the shop. My friend really assisted me when she left me her shop, and I also wanted to be fair to her, so I joined a merry go round group where I usually deposit all my transfers every month, which I will withdraw at the end of the year and then pay the money to my friend for the Mpesa shop that she left for me.

I had just woken up in the morning and I checked my phone like I always did every morning. I saw the Mpesa message and the following message from Give Directly. I was very happy and I believed that truly the transfers were real. I then started to think of how I would spend the money.