My salary as a personal assistant at the ward office barely meets all household needs. Therefore, I always prioritize food provision and supporting the education of my children whenever I acquire cash. I mostly spent the recent transfers to procure food worth KES 4,300, enough to supply meals throughout the month. Additionally, I used KES 2,200 to clear outstanding school fee balances for my two children. Seeing them study without frequent interruptions to collect their unsettled arrears fills my heart with so much joy and satisfaction. Lastly, I utilized KES 2,500 to buy a sheep that will increase my sources of funds when it reproduces.

I spent my most recent transfer in buying an ewe which cost me kes 2500 and the kes 500 went to pay part of my children school fees.I am expected to pay Kes 980 per term for each of my child who are in class 6.

We have actually been experiencing a lot of drought in the village and this has consequently made us subsistence farmers suffer a lot since we have not managed to harvest any crops and that is why after I received the money I bought three bags of maize flour and each bag contained a dozen packets which cost me KES 3,000. I opted for the food to avoid my family and I going hungry like we did sometimes.

Honestly GiveDirectly has helped to elevate me financially and not just me because I see and witness the growth even with other individuals in the village and this makes me very happy because even seeing other people prosper is great and as a community we are very grateful.

Due to outstanding fee balances, after receiving the money I immediately opted to pay tuition fee for my kids education so as they would not get kicked out of school. I payed one thousand eight hundred and fifty shillings for my twin daughters for the term they were currently in and as for the rest I took one thousand kenyan shillings and bought a bag of maize flour plus tea leaves and sugar which cost me one hundred and fifty shillings.

One of them would be the fact that I could finally afford to feed my family without thinking when and what the next meal would be, especially because our financial situation was putting a strain on that at that moment. Also like I had mentioned prior I was finally able to settle tuition fees that had accumulated through out the term.

I was extremely overjoyed because I could finally settle my debts especially concerning the arrears to my kids tuition because financially at that moment I was in a fix and it was honestly stressing me out. Plus as a parent seeing your children being sent back home due to lack of money can be demoralising both to the kid and the parent. I was happy that I could afford a meal for my family since that was challenging as well from time to time.