My priority is to ensure that my five children stay in school without interruptions due to a lack of fees. I am thankful for the support I have received from GiveDirectly, which has allowed me to pay for their tuition. While my son, a casual worker in house construction, contributes, his income is limited, and cannot cover all the expenses for his siblings. Two of them are in junior high school, where the expenses can be quite high. This is where I intend to direct most of the funds. I also have a desire to own livestock, but given the constraints of tuition fees, I am uncertain about my capacity to pursue that at the moment.

Being a widow, it can be challenging to provide for the needs of my five children due to the lack of support from my husband. Although my elder son contributes to the household expenses, his income from casual house construction jobs is limited. Therefore, the transfers have become a crucial source of income for my family, which I primarily spend on the children’s education. From the last three cash transfers, I allocated $61 to admit two of my children to junior high school. These funds covered their uniforms, books, school shoes, and entry fees. I am pleased that they are now settled and making good progress in their studies. Additionally, I used $41 to settle school fee balances for my son who recently completed high school. The school required the fees to be covered before he could collect his exam results. I am immensely grateful for the cash transfers, as they have been a lifeline for my family, enabling me to keep my children in school even in the absence of their father.

As a single parent responsible for the education of my six children, I faced the challenge of not having a reliable source of income to cover their school fees. I used to worry about how I would manage their educational expenses. Fortunately, the assistance provided through these transfers has been a tremendous relief. I am deeply grateful for the support because it has allowed me to comfortably address other essential needs, such as providing food for my family, while knowing that my children's school fees are taken care of through the transfers. My main objective is to ensure that my children continue their education, and I diligently allocate the funds to ensure their fees are paid on time. Additionally, I have plans to invest some of the money in purchasing livestock, especially goats. I believe that as they reproduce, they can serve as a sustainable source of income, allowing me to sell their offspring and generate the funds needed to cover our financial requirements.

Since my spouse's passing, I've shouldered the responsibility of raising my six children all on my own. I've been making ends meet by juggling a series of low-paying and occasional jobs, with burning and selling charcoal being the primary means of sustaining our livelihood. Unfortunately, due to health concerns, I can no longer engage in such labor intensive work. I had little choice in the matter, as these jobs took a toll on my well-being and provided an unreliable income, allowing me to sell charcoal only twice a month. On the days when I couldn't work, my children had to stay home until I was able to pay for them. With no one else to turn to for support in educating my children, I'm deeply grateful to GiveDirectly for the hope they've brought into our lives. Each month, I always allocate $30 to cover my children's school fees. However, I still have some outstanding arrears. Nevertheless, I'm content that I've managed to reduce the balance to a manageable level. The relief of seeing my children attend school is immeasurable, courtesy of the transfers that have been primarily directed toward their education. Additionally, I also spent some of the funds to purchase new school uniforms for my children, costing $10 each, replacing the old, tattered ones that they wore daily. The remaining amount was put towards addressing essential household needs, such as toiletries, which we often lacked.

The condition of my house is presently in a state of disrepair, and I am deeply concerned about its impending collapse, which would render me homeless. One side of the house is exhibiting severe cracks and bending, posing significant safety risks to both myself and my family. In order to address this alarming situation, I intend to allocate a portion of the transfer funds towards procuring new building poles and constructing a sturdy, resilient dwelling. By doing so, I will be ensuring the safety and well-being of my family, as well as safeguarding my property.

As a widow, I bear the responsibility of providing for my six children who rely on me for their financial needs. However, the income I earn from selling charcoal is barely sufficient. On a good day, I can sell two sacks of charcoal and earn $6. Unfortunately, this amount falls far short of meeting the requirements of my family. Thankfully, our church has been kind enough to provide us with food donations, and my children receive bursary cheques that support their education. To address the school fees arrears of my four children in primary school, I used $20 from my June transfers. This allowed them to continue their education without facing the risk of being sent home. With the remaining $14, I purchased food, which was crucial in preventing hunger within my family. I am grateful for this assistance as I look forward to the upcoming maize harvest, which promises to be bountiful due to the heavy rains we received and allowed us to plant enough food.

As a widow and the only provider for my family, my goal is to ensure that my children can attend school. I have a deep conviction that education will provide them with opportunities. They will be helpful to me because of this. To reduce their fee arrears, I shall use at least half of every transfer I get each month to reduce their fee arrears. The remainder will come in handy in terms of buying food, especially on days when I do not have any other sources of income.

I am a widow and a mother of six children who are currently in school. Four of them are in primary school, while two are enrolled in High Scool. To support them, I rely on charcoal making to earn a living. I resorted to charcoal burning because I had no other source of income although it is heavy work. When I received my most recent transfer, I spent the whole of it on offsetting the fee arrears that were carried forward from last year. I, therefore, spent $34 on paying the outstanding fees. I am glad that since then, they have not been sent home for fee collection.

I am a widow and a mother of seven children. Since I do not have a regular job, I always struggle to do casual jobs and strenuous work such as charcoal burning to support them. Therefore, when I began receiving my transfer, I felt relieved. From the recent transfer, I spent $20 on school fees for my four children in primary school; Agness, Eunice, Emmanuel, and Ibraham. I am glad that they currently have ample time in school. Secondly, I spent $10 on food, and for a week, we never struggled since we had maize flour that lasted that long. I am so grateful to GiveDirectly.

I am very grateful towards the great work that GiveDirectly is doing and how the funds have positively impacted my life and that of my kids. For instance, my children had been kicked out of school before I received my first transfers and had been home for days because I could not settle the tuition fee. Luckily I received the funds from the organisation a couple of days later and I managed to pay the fees and gracefully send my children back to school. God knows how long they would have probably stayed home were it not for me receiving the transfers when I did.

The transfers from GiveDirectly were just recently sent to me and I have not yet had the opportunity to go withdraw the funds from my account through mobile money but that does not mean I have yet made my mind up on what exactly I would love to do with funds. As soon as I can withdraw my transfers, I plan on initially paying examination fee for four of my children who are in school since they are about to sit for their exams and the school has requested I pay for them before they do and without doing so they will not be allowed to do their exams like other pupils. The exams fees cost about KES 200 for each. As soon as I settle that predicament then I would be left with about KES 2,200 which I plan to useon purchasing a goat to rear hoping eventually it breeds and incase of financial strains I can sell the goats and sort out the issue.

I was deep in slumber when the transfers were sent. I only found out through my son who was enrolled after he had received his transfers and had come to check whether I too had received mine. I was ecstatic to be honest especially since I am the breadwinner for my family ever since my husband passed away. He left with with the burden of taking care of our kids all by myself which was quite handful especially since they had school and I needed to cater for that and ensure they never missed a meal.

In my opinion, keeping my kids on school is of my biggest challenges on most occasions because I barely make enough money to cloth them, feed them, cater for other numerous needs and also keep them in school. But I am glad the funds offer me the financial assistance I need and my children get to go to school just like other children.

Before the schools closed for holiday, I was yet to clear a debt in tuition fee that my four children had due to lack of funds. They just recently resumed to school and luckily GiveDirectly had sent me the transfers around that time before schools reopened. I took KES 800 from the funds I had received and paid for the debt for four of my children because I knew without clearing the debt they would not have been allowed back to the school premises. After that I took KES 200 and bought them stationery because they were about to begin a new term and would need new material. The balance that remained was KES 200 which I used to purchase two packets of maize flour so that we would have a meal that evening.