In the next few months and years, my main focus is on supporting my son as he finishes school. Once he's done, I'm counting on him and my daughter, Abigael, to join forces with me to achieve my dream of building our own house. Right now, living with my parents is not ideal, but it's necessary as I've been prioritizing my children's education. Once they're independent, we can work together towards our shared goal of having a place to call our own, where we can all feel comfortable and secure.

As a casual worker burning charcoal and selling sisal to support my family as a widow, I've relied on every opportunity to secure a better future for my son. Through careful saving, I managed to save $60 in a merry-go-round, which grew to $200 by March, enabling me to fulfill my dream of sending my son to mechanical college. Additionally, I saved $30 in a SILC group, leaving me with $20 to contribute towards his education next month. With only assured income from the project each month, I allocated $12 for household items, ensuring our basic needs are met. My son's future means everything to me, and thanks to GiveDirectly's support, he'll have the skills he needs to secure a better life for himself and help our family thrive.

My objective for this year is to enroll my youngest son in college this February, where he aspires to pursue a course in mechanics. I am wholeheartedly committed to providing him with the support he requires to fulfill his dream. I firmly believe that this course will equip him with the skills necessary to secure a decent livelihood and contribute to our family's well-being. The funds diligently saved in our savings account will be utilized to facilitate this educational endeavor. Witnessing my children achieve their dreams brings me profound joy, and I eagerly anticipate the promising future that awaits us.

In the past, I faced significant challenges, resorting to selling sisal and removing tree stumps to provide for my two children after my husband's passing. Despite the demanding and labor-intensive nature of this work, I am glad that the perseverance paid off, enabling me to educate one of my children up to college level, where she pursued a dressmaking course. The support from GiveDirectly has played a pivotal role in this achievement, with the transfers primarily allocated to cover essential school fees. I am delighted to share that I was able to acquire a sewing machine worth $200 through a loan for her. Strategically managing the funds, I directed $57 towards repaying the loan, another $17 for daily expenditures, and $14 for urgent medical treatment after a dog bite. The remaining amount has been prudently saved in a local savings club, earmarked for my lastborn child's future college fees. I am pleased with the significant milestones I have accomplished with the assistance of GiveDirectly.

In the coming year,my main priority is getting my daughter a sewing machine and setting up a shop for her. This will enable her utilize her tailoring skills to better her life as well as ours .Her financial stability and independence would make me extremely happy. To reach that objective, I shall apply for a loan from the Sacco I have been saving with.

My husband's death was an awful experience for me and my two children because we were fully dependent on him. I used to sell charcoal to cover their needs, but the money wasn't enough to support us.I am glad that my income is now supplemented by the transfers I receive, allowing me to comfortably pay for my children's education. I enrolled my eldest daughter in a tailoring college after she graduated from high school and I pay $10 every month towards her tuition. Equipping her with tailoring skills will allow her to earn a living while also assisting me in educating her younger sister. I put the rest of the money into a Sacco with the intention of securing a loan in the future. I am grateful to Give Directly for changing my life in unimaginable ways.

Education is a valuable asset, and I believe that it will have a significant impact on my children's future stability. To ensure their success, I intend to allocate a significant portion of the transfers towards paying for their education expenses and supporting their learning. In a few months, my daughter will finish her tailoring course, and she will be able to start her own business and become financially independent. Additionally, my son, who is set to complete his secondary education this year, is optimistic about doing well and going to university to pursue his chosen career. My role is to provide financial support, and the transfers come in handy in helping me achieve this goal.

At the beginning of this year, my daughter enrolled in a tailoring college after completing her secondary school education. Witnessing her join college filled my heart with joy and peace. As a casual laborer, my income from charcoal sales is very little and cannot support all the needs of my family, including paying for my son's final year of secondary school. However, I manage to save $20 each month to pay for my children's tuition fees. In addition to paying school fees, I spent $14 on purchasing food, which was enough to feed my family for the next two weeks. I am grateful that the monthly transfers are playing a significant role in helping me provide for my family's most basic needs.

I am in a merry-go-round group comprising fifteen, each member contributes $20 per month using our GiveDirectly transfers for savings. I expect to receive my savings of $100 in February which I intend to use to take my daughter to college to pursue a tailoring course. She finished her secondary education last year but due to my unsustainable financial situation, I could not afford to take her to college. With the savings I have in the group, I am optimistic that I will be able to top it up with the money from my charcoal business to enroll her in the course next month.

I am the only breadwinner for my family because I am a widow. Although I burn charcoal for sales, the $6 I make each week is insufficient to meet the needs of the four of us. It was difficult for us to raise money for our everyday requirements until GiveDirectly came to the rescue. I was able to pay the $40 to clear the outstanding school fees for my children.  I'm delighted they were able to take their final exams for the year. $24 I used to buy food for us to consume, especially the dry foodstuffs that would last us for a while. In addition, I spent $30 on a goat for breeding. They are fantastic investments, and I plan to sell some of the young ones once they have given birth to help pay for my kids' school expenses.

As a widow, my main source of income is farming. Due to the ongoing drought, I did not plant any crops on the farm for the previous three years. In the past, I would harvest a large amount of food from the farm and sell the extra to the market to get some money. I turned to selling charcoal, which is incredibly laborious and pays very little, after losing my salary. My needs cannot be met with my meager KES 300 per bag income. My customers prefer to use cheaper fuels, like charcoal, therefore selling charcoal is quite difficult. I typically sell four bags of charcoal every month. I owed KES 2500 in unpaid school fees for my two kids, which I was unable to pay. They were therefore sent home, where they remained for more than two weeks without attending class. I was overjoyed to obtain my transfer. My children were enrolled back in school after I paid a KES 2000 debt for school fees. I purchased two hens in addition to paying off the school fee debt. The hens are an investment for the future. In an emergency, I can sell them and use the proceeds to take care of my acute problem. I'm thankful that the money allowed me to send my kids back to school when I was short on finances.

The whole enrollment process was free and fair and we have been receiving money smoothly as promised. I want to comment you for your kindness and generosity and may God bless you.

Ever since my husband passed, I have been burning and selling charcoal to raise my two children. My desire has been to own livestock because I have never owned any all my life. The income that I was earning from the business wasn't enough to pay school fees for my children and feed them therefore, I was struggling to meet basic needs and couldn't afford to buy even a goat. When I was enrolled in the program, my goal was to invest in livestock and offset my son's school fees because he has so far accumulated fees balance of KES 10500. I spend KES 2500 of my most recent transfer to buy a goat and the balance to buy two packets of maize floor. I now have something to call mine and I'm also proud like other people in the village. I'm looking forward to spend my next subsequent transfers to settle my son's school fees.

Having been born and raised in a poor family, I had never imagined that I would one day be able to receive a financial support of the same magnitude. Therefore as soon as I received my transfer, I felt so excited. At that moment, I was extremely happy to the point of jumping up and down in the house. To me, given such financial support was so historical since I had never received such kind of financial aid in my lifetime. For sure, I knew that I would be able to support my children's education comfortably.

Having struggled to raise school tuition fees for the past 3 terms, I was at the verge of giving up on my goal of supporting my two children's education. The receipt of the transfer created a big difference in my life. This caused my panic to vanish since I knew I would be able to support my two children. Without the transfer, I am sure my children would have not been able to attend the tuition sessions.

Currently, I have two children who are in form four. My desire has been to offer them the best support I can as a parent in order to make them have ample time for their studies. However, since I was unable to engage in any farming activity in the past two seasons due to prolonged drought, I have been extremely struggling to raise their school fees. Prior to the date I received my transfer, they were just at home because I had not paid for their tuition fees. So, immediately I received the transfer, I opted to pay off their tuition fees in order for them to continue with their studies and catch up with their classmates. Through this, I am optimistic that they will be able to perform well in ther KCSE examinations scheduled for by the end of this year.