School fees has been my major financial challenge ever since my children joined the school. This is because I have a very small income from a small foodstuff business which has not been earning me much. I have always had to take loans and small debts to pay school fees for my children. As a result, I realized I had a lot of debts I could not pay yet I was not even done with the arrears. This is where GD transfers have brought a change in my life. Ever since I started getting my transfers, I have been paying school fees arrears for my children on a monthly basis and even though I am not through with the payments my children are never sent home for fees arrears anymore. I have also paid all my debts with the transfers.

I still plan to use my transfers on saving. My main goal is to ensure I always pay school fees arrears for my children in time. I always feel happy as a parent when my children go through the year without being sent home for fees arrears.

I spent my transfers on paying school fees for my son in nursery school. I have been doing this on a monthly basis to reduce the balance I have in school. I also gifted my mother some amount which she requested for some of her personal needs. I used the rest to buy household items such as food and clothes for my family. We had very old clothes and I felt it was wise to buy a couple of clothes for my children.

I did not have any stable source of income before I was enrolled into this program and depended only on irregular domestic jobs. I always lived a life full of anxiety not knowing whether I would get anything for my children or enough to pay my rent at the end of the month to avoid being kicked out of my rented house. With the aid of this program, I was able to set up a small business selling samosa which provides me with a stable income that can now take care of my daily needs. I am now living a less stressful life because I am able to meet most of my needs, thanks to my financial stability.

It is a new year and the kids are about to go back to school, so I have plans of spending the money on their school needs especially after I was forced to spend most of the savings I had set aside for such requirements on a medical emergency.

I spent the money I received most recently on household and personal requirements such as foodstuff and clothing. I had saved the rest to help in the purchase of school requirements when my children resumed school this term, but unfortunately, I had to spend it on a medical emergency.

Currently, my life is different from how it was in that, I have been able to take care of my needs easily with the help of these transfer unlike before where I entirely depended on my husband to provide everything. I had given birth and I am still resting for a few months until the baby is old enough. I am glad that I have not taken a loan ever since I started getting these transfers. Thanks to Give Directly because most of my needs have been met through this money.

My new goal is to start saving for my future projects. I am currently thinking of a business idea that I can do while at home. I recently gave birth and I can't do any casual job yet. I want to start something that will bring good income which will enable me to take care of my needs easily without entirely depending on my husband.

I sent my mother some money for upkeep. My mother doesn't have a stable source of income. She usually depends on casual jobs in order to put food on the table. I have been helping her most of the time because I am among the eldest siblings in our family. In most cases, I am the one who takes care of most of the family's responsibilities. I also managed pay school fees for my child and bought a few clothes since the ones we had were old and torn. I thank Give Directly for enabling me to make these changes and achieve these goals.

My new goal is to save money part of the monthly transfers and with the saving, I am planning to start a second -hand clothes vending business. This will earn me an income to meet my household's needs.

I am earning commissions which are meagre from the odd jobs such as cleaning business premises in Eastleigh market hence meeting my family's needs has always been a challenge most especially when work doesn't present itself. The biggest difference in my life is that I have found peace because I don't strain that much to provide for my family since I am able to supplement my commission with GiveDirectly's transfers and having three meals in a day is possible as compared to before.

I spent the larger part of my most recent transfer to pay school fees for my two children who are in primary school because they had stayed home for a week due to lack of money to settle the lump sum arrears. The remaining amount I paid my medical bills and bought household expenditure too.

I was wakened up at 12:00 Am by a message alert on my phone and upon looking through. It was GiveDirectly that had sent the money. I had mixed reactions and tears of joys run down my chicks as I thanked the Almighty God for the unexplainable miracle He had done by enabling me to be a GiveDirectly's beneficiary for two years under the monthly project. I am now focused on changing my living standards with these transfers.