I am now my own breadwinner thanks to Givedirectly transfers. I started a small stall selling food items and groceries after I started receiving transfers. The business has grown from the business I began with $30 to a business I would say is worth $130. This has been as a result of the monthly transfers I have been receiving. I still am working to grow the business even further using my transfers. I used $35 of my recent transfers to invest into the business even further. I also took a solar lighting system to help with lighting my home and I spent $10 paying off my debts on the same. I was also able to save around $50 to my local savings group which I recently joined thanks to the transfers.

I am a bachelor who has really wanted to marry and start my family. The only thing impeding me from achieving this goal is my finances. Marrying is not an easy task in our place, if I am unable to pay bride price I cannot get a wife. I recently joined a savings group which I have saved $80 in. I am working on ensuring I save a bit more so that when I have enough money I will be able to marry. I also hoe to use my savings to take care of the family in the first year as it will mean I will have more people to take care of.

I currently run a small shop near my house, selling essentials like flour, sugar, and various other items. Upon receiving my transfers, I immediately invested $14 to expand my shop's inventory. Previously, staying afloat was challenging, but now, thanks to support from GiveDirectly, I have managed to keep my shop open. With the support from GiveDirectly, I am pursuing my dreams.To begin, I recently joined a merry-go-round. Last month, I set aside $20 in the merry-go-round scheme that brought joy and hope that my future will be bright.

While I am currently on my own without a family, I am on a mission to save up for a brighter tomorrow. My goal is to be able to effortlessly cover my childrens school fees one day and shower my future wife with the best life has to offer. Plus, I have got big dreams for expanding my business along the way.

Previously, I earned my livelihood as a fisherman, but the income from that occupation often fell short of meeting my essential needs. Fortunately, Give Directly has provided me with invaluable assistance by enabling me to establish a small shop in my village, where I sell basic necessities. With the transfers I received, I wisely invested $54 in acquiring goats and a chicken, which I intend to rear to maturity and sell at a profit. In addition to securing my financial future, I used $14 to purchase food for myself, as the maize we had harvested for sustenance had run out. Lastly, I utilized $34 to replenish the stock for my business, enhancing its stability and ensuring a steady source of income. I am happy that this opportunity has significantly improved my economic prospects and instilled a sense of hope for a brighter future.

In the coming year and beyond, my main goal is to return to school. Despite successfully completing secondary school, my inability to afford college fees hindered my academic journey. Pursuing a motor vehicle mechanic course is my dream. I am diligently saving the profits from my business to fund this endeavor. The prospect of resuming my education brings me immense joy, as it not only allows me to follow my lifelong passion but also equips me with valuable skills that can significantly increase my earning potential. With an education in this field, I aspire to provide better for my family and secure a brighter future for us all.

I am a single man looking forward to one day begining a family. Through Givedirectly transfers I have been able to start building myself towards a point of self reliance. I spent my April transfers on buying a goat at $30 and I used the $4 to reload my phone. In May I spent $20 to make a down payment for a goat I had eye and I used the rest of the cash to buy food at $14. In June I made the last payment for the goat $20 and still got food at $14.

I started a business through my first Givediretcly transfers. I started a small roadside stall where I sell groceries, food items like flour and toiletries. I have been restocking it over time, through the Givedirectly transfers as well as the profits from the business. My hope is to stock it up until a point that I can rent out a shop and sell from there. I also want to add more goats. I believe animals are the best investment. They are easy to maintain and multiply fast. My hope is to have a big herd from which I can sell and get cash whenever a need arises.

In December I bought a goat for $15 was able to buy food for my home at $9.1 and I also restocked my business using the $10 that I had left. In January I stocked up on the business with flour, oil, tealeaves which all came to $30 and I used the $4 remaining to get myself food. The amount I spent on stocking up reduced to $10 in February I used $21.5 on buying flour to use at home and I also got myself credit to use for the month.

I had wanted to start a shop business before GD came in. I had saved up around $30 which I used to start the business but the shop was very low on stock, when GD came in I added to this stock and started bringing in things like flour, oil, rice and added the vegetables. I have been stocking up monthly as I receive transfers depending on what state the shop is in. So this year my hope is to expand the shop to a point we have all the essentials more than what we have in our stocks now. I want to marry and so I want to be in a good financial state when I do so. I also want to buy some animals. I mentioned that I want to marry, so this animals will reproduce and over time my flock will grow and I can be able to sell the animals to pay my children's school fees when I get them.

I spent $18 on purchasing more stock for my retail shop business. I wish to continue adding more stock to meet the demand of my customers. This in the long run earns me good profit to meet the basic needs of my family because this is my main source of income. The remaining amount of money I spent on food for the family. I am so happy because GiveDirectly has improved our standard of living.

I decided to use the funds sent by the organization to purchase a goat for KES 2,000 which finally made my small herd accumulate to half a dozen. I plan to keep on investing yo buy farm animals because after they reproduce, it will give me the opportunity to offer them up for the market and benefit financially. As for the rest of the transfers I decided to use KES 500 and bought two packets of maize flour and sardines since there was hardly any food left in the house . Then I took the rest which was KES 500 by storing it in my savings account because I planned on doing a small course of learning how to be a mechanic but since I did not have all the funds needed I opted to gradually begin saving up for it so that I could equip myself with a skill that would help me in the long run.

I am honestly very thankful towards GiveDirectly because now through the transfers I have a new form of hope that I could finally resume school which I wanted to for the longest time but I could not due to lack of finances. I can now plan for my future so I barely have nothing to complain about.

From my recent transfer, I was able to save KES 500 on a merry-go-round. I intend to build my savings across the year to raise the fee for joining the college to do an artisan course in mechanics. I have opted for this course because I am an orphan and my widowed mother is unable to support my education to a higher level. She mainly depends on charcoal burning to earn a living. The artisan mechanic course will help me acquires skills that will go a long way in making me self-reliant. Lastly, I spent the rest of the transfer to support my mother in buying foodstuffs in order to supplement what we previously had.

The biggest difference in my life is being hopeful that I will soon be enrolled in an artisan course I had been longing for. The GiveDirectly transfer has enabled me to start building up my savings towards raising the fee. Being able to initiate saving money towards my artisan fee is in itself a positive change in my life. Once I complete the mechanic course, I am very optimistic that the skills acquired will definitely change for the better.

I learned about the receipt of my transfer at around 5pm in the evening. On that day, I was mostly away from my phone since I had several errands to follow up. I least expected the transfer at that time thus I was thrilled with joy to learn that I was successful. That gave me hope that my dream of pursuing my mechanic course would soon become a reality. I am very appreciative to GiveDirectly for the financial support.