In the upcoming year and beyond, my main focus is to ensure my son's success in his university studies, where he is pursuing a Bachelor of Education. Every day, I dedicate myself to supporting his educational journey, from managing our budget to making sure he has all the resources he needs. I hope that by providing him with a stable foundation, he will excel in his studies. As he completes his degree, I envision him using his education to make a positive impact in our community, inspiring future generations.

As a dedicated farmer who grows crops and rears livestock, I have over 100 goats and sheep, and 26 cows. My house was once unstable, prompting me to take out a $400 loan to renovate it with strong pillars and skirting to withstand the fierce winds in our area. With the recent three transfers totaling $102, I focused on repaying this loan. The entire amount was used to cover part of the $30 monthly installment required for the loan. By applying these funds to my debt, I am gradually making progress in clearing it and securing a safer home for my family. With the remaining $12 from the transfers, I bought some sugar for my family. This small but significant purchase adds a touch of sweetness to our daily lives and is a way to make sure we enjoy our meals a bit more. Each step I take, from repaying the loan to buying essentials, helps me manage our resources better and support my family amidst our farming challenges.

With my house reinforced with strong pillars, I now aim to maintain my support for my child's education, ensuring he completes his studies and secures a brighter future. I intend to send him my monthly transfers to cover his daily expenses while he's at university. Witnessing him pursue his education at Kenyatta University fills me with immense pride, joy, and happiness.

As the sole breadwinner in my household, it's my responsibility to ensure that my family has a good home. Our current house, made of mud, lacks durability and longevity. I've longed to reinforce it with brick and cement pillars for stability, but my earnings from my security guard job have been solely dedicated to my son's university education. However, with the transfers from GiveDirectly, I was finally able to put my plan into action. I invested all $104 of my transfers into improving our home. The progress in enhancing our house brings me great happiness. Knowing that the transfers will continue to support us allows me to plan for our future with confidence. It makes me feel focused and strategic in achieving our family's goals.

In the future, my intention is to utilize the transfers to contribute towards supporting my son, who is presently enrolled in university, particularly by covering his accommodation expenses. Ensuring a conducive living environment for him is crucial for his academic success. I take great satisfaction in the fact that the livestock acquired with funds from the transfers played a pivotal role. By selling some of the livestock, I successfully generated funds to settle my son's school fees. This achievement is something I deeply appreciate and for which I am profoundly grateful.

Allocating $34 from the transfers, I intend to embark on a house-painting project. Having recently completed the construction of my stone-walled house, I aim to enhance its aesthetic appeal by applying paint to both the inner and outer walls. Additionally, I invested in the construction of a new shelter for my goats to safeguard them from adverse weather conditions and potential theft. This endeavor involved utilizing the $34 from the transfers, along with some additional funds, to create a secure space for the 80 goats currently in my possession. During the festive month of December, I dedicated $34 to purchasing food for my family, celebrating Christmas, and welcoming the New Year. As a livestock and crop farmer, I express gratitude for the financial support received through the transfers, which has significantly contributed to the expansion of my livestock holdings. Currently, I manage a herd of 80 goats, 20 cows, and 20 hens. The income generated from the livestock has not only supported my agricultural ventures but has also played a crucial role in sponsoring my son's university education.

My primary goal for the upcoming years is to prioritize the education of my children. After Matano completed his high school education, I took the initiative to prepare him for a potential military college by sending him to driving school. This decision was driven by the possibility that his K.C.S.E. results might not guarantee him direct admission to a university. To finance this endeavor, I had to acquire a loan of $220, as my job as a security guard only covers the most basic household expenses and not tuition fees. Fortunately, Matano's K.C.S.E. results were impressive, enabling him to secure a spot at the university. He is currently in his first year pursuing a bachelor's degree in education. However, with the rising costs of university education, he is required to pay approximately $2500 per year for the next four years. Additionally, I have another child in seventh grade who also depends on my financial support. Ideally, I wish the cash transfers could be provided in lump sums to allow me to clear my children's school fees in one go, alleviating the risk of their education being interrupted. Despite the challenges, I am determined to ensure they remain in school. If necessary, I am open to exploring options such as taking out loans to initiate income-generating ventures that can contribute to their tuition fees.

In February, I borrowed $220 from my savings group to enroll my son, Matano, in a driving school. Having completed his secondary education, the previous year, I wanted to ensure he had a backup plan in case his secondary school exam results didn't secure him a direct university admission. Matano completed his driving training a few months ago. Since then, I've been using the received cash transfers to gradually repay the loan I took out to cover his training expenses. This was the intended use for the entire transfer amount I received this month. Typically, I work as a school security guard, and my income barely covers essential needs like food. I sometimes face difficulties in paying for the school fees of both Matano and his younger sibling, who is currently in seventh grade. The assistance from the cash transfers has been crucial in supporting their education and ensuring they continue their studies.

Because I am advanced in age, apart from livestock rearing, I do not have an additional source of income. Since my son Matano is the only son I have, I am always glad to see his focus and pursuit of academic excellence. He is a bright and promising son in my family. Therefore, I hope to use my monthly transfers to support this tertiary education. It will focus on diverting my transfer to the same course after repaying my current running loan.

I keep livestock, but the drought has had an adverse effect on my livestock. I lost roughly ten calves and kits because my cows and goats were always dehydrated, and unable to provide enough milk for them. I could not acquire funds to pay a fee for Matano, my only son, to attend college. When enrolling my son Matano in a short-term course, I had to borrow money. I had to get a $200 loan. Every time I get a transfer, I try to use it to pay off the loan. Even though I have not withdrawn the money from my most recent transfer, I intend to use it to pay back some of the running loan.

I am so much grateful to GiveDirectly and how much it has been of great help to me and my family. Being a father of 8 and with two children who are still in their secondary and primary level of studies, I have received great support through GiveDirectly transfers. I have managed to support my two children in school quite easily without having to sell any of my livestock as I would do initially. Right now, I own more than fifty goats in my farm. This is to mean that I will be in a good position to sponsor one of my children who is joining college soon. My plan is to continue using the transfers that I get from GiveDirectly each month to pay school fees and meet other little needs for my family without having to sell some of my livestock. It has also helped me a great deal in making sure that I get back to my original position as a pastoralist. Initially, I had sold some of my livestock after I fell ill while working for a company in Nairobi. I fell ill to an extent of being admitted in hospital and undergoing a surgery too. This ate up all my resources until I had to resign and come back home to start all over again. I am so proud of the steps that I have taken. Despite the ravaging drought, I must admit that we have so many livestock that will enable us pay school fees for our last born son.

My source of livelihood has been livestock keeping. Since I could not dispose of some of my livestock to raise money for my family's daily support, we ran out of food. It occurred two days before receiving my transfer. Immediately after receiving my transfer, I spent $21 on a bale of maize flour and the rest on other food items. As a result, we ate to satisfaction for a week. It would have otherwise not been possible without GiveDirectly's transfers. I can attest that the cash helped me to cater to the needs of my 10-member family. It bailed me from the struggles owing to the current hard economic times caused by the prolonged drought in our region. However, whenever I have no way out, I sell some of my livestock to raise money, especially for fees for my five school-going children.

I used my entire second transfer to pay my daughter's medical bills. She was expecting, but regrettably she started having labor pains much earlier than her due date. Fortunately, I had already received my transfer at that point, so I used the money to have the hospital admit her right away and start treating her. The worst happened, and she lost the baby. I'm thankful that her health has improved since she was allowed to return home after being admitted for two weeks. Considering that I make very little money from my watchman job, the money from the transfer was a huge help in handling the emergency situation that had arisen.

I am happy that Give Directly came up with the initiative of giving out unconditional transfers to needy people. The funds have helped many in my village start all over again and rebuild their lives for the better. However, I would like the organization to increase the monthly stipend so that we can cope with the rising prices of essential commodities such as food.  

I spent my money on buying a goat. I earn a living by raising livestock. Since the commencement of the drought three years ago, I lost over 13 livestock due to the effects of drought. The lack of grass and water points is a major challenge to the animal’s health. As a result, I fetch low prices when selling the animals in the market. I heavily depend on the sale of this livestock and I used the money to cater to my family’s needs (paying school fees, and buying food and clothes). With the few livestock left, I have a fear that I will lose all of them because of the persistent drought present in my area. I have little livestock left, and I bought the goat to add to the number of livestock and replace those that I lost.

I was at home at around 10pm when I received a message from the Mpesa funds. As I read the message, my mind was not clear where the funds came from until I evaluated the amount sent. I immediately told my wife to switch on her phone and check if she had received her share of funds just for my confirmations. My wife was delighted and laughed with me all the night because it was unbelievable for both of us.

My principal source of income is livestock keeping. I lost my livestock because of treating them on time and this was because of the many debts had incurred at the nearby tertiary shop. The difference is the cash received from Give directly has enabled me to purchase all the required medicine for my livestock on time, which has saved my business and saved me the embarrassment of additional debts. My intention is with my other children receiving the funds as a family. We will support the rest of my children who are still at school.

I grew up from the family which practiced animal husbandry and it was easy for me to pick up the same profession from my father. Currently, with the tough times brought by the prolonged drought, livestock keeping has been a challenge, especially with the lack of water and dry season, which makes the animals prone to diseases. It has been difficult to support my family of 1O members (wife and 8 children) especially when I lost some of my livestock to diseases and famine. My transfer of KES 600 was used to buy medicine for my animals and dewormers for the chicken. I spent the remaining KES 200 on buying sugar because it’s one thing that is mostly used in my house. I saved KES 400 to buy broiler legs for the layers to hatch them because it’s cheaper to have them hatched than buying the chicks.