I have 8 children who are school going. This is a big number to manage with our finances as parents since our jobs/ business is unpredictable. I would want all of them to attend school and finish to a secondary level. I know that can only be made possible by increasing our income. We are starting a chicken business where we sell and buy chicken. I now have 15 chicken and this I hope to increase in number until I have more animals. I believe with this I will be able to increase my income and ensure I am able to take the children to school without a struggle.

I have 8 school going children, one recently cleared their primary school and should be joining a highschool that we are not yet sure of. My other children are 2 in secondary school, 2 in junior high and 3 in primary. I am a animal herder while my husband buys and sells animals. We make an income but with our children being many and the number of children in secondary school increasing I know that its not going to be easy. I saved $20 in October and December while November I saved my entire transfer. I am saving in my local group so I can be eligible for big loans to facilitate my children's schooling. I also used the transfers on tilling land at $7 and buying soap for use. In December I bought food at $10, paid school fees of $2 and $22 was saved,.

As I said am one of the lucky ones. I am privileged because I am in a place of being able to think about setting up investments. I have mentioned that I am part of an informal savings group where we make contribution for savings to. We are able to request loans from this group for investment purposes, I mentioned I was able to buy a goat as a result of being part of this group, my hope is to venture into business one day as much as I haven't thought about what business, it is a possibility I can explore thanks to this group. So I plan to continue making my monthly contribution and grow my savings which will allow me to take a big loan when the idea comes my way.

I would count myself as one of the luckiest people since I was enrolled in the program. I have been able to join savings groups and also make investment plans with my group from the savings. In the month of July we had made plans to contribute money and buy a goat each, with n addition of previous savings and that months transfer, I was able to buy a goat worth $45. In August two of my children were going back to school for the third term of the year. They both study quite a distance from home, one is in a place within coast known as Kaloleni and another in Eldoret, with the transfers we were able to pay fare worth $40 to which we had added $10 from the transfers to facilitate the transport to Eldoret and also bought shopping worth $10 for the one in Kaloleni. We also paid school fees for my five younger children in primary school worth $10. the remaining $4 went into purchasing sugar used for breakfast. In September I still added $20 to my savings group and used the remaining $14 to buy washing powder.

My nine children are all currently enrolled in school, two in high school and seven in primary school, and they all rely on me for their tuition. I do not have a source of income from which I can effectively educate them in order for them to achieve their educational objectives. My husband also looks after animals, and I am a small-scale subsistence farmer. I rely on the transfer to pay their fees, which has kept them all in school so far. It has not been easy for them to raise their fees. I hope that as they progress through the program, they will be able to achieve their career objectives. Thus, my primary goal is to pay my children's fees so that their studies are not disrupted or sent home due to fees. I also intend to purchase more goats, which will aid in the education of my children. I currently own five goats, and I expect them to reproduce and multiply. I can rely on them to cover the costs of my children's education.

My recent transfers were mostly used to pay school fees for my nine children, two in high school and seven in primary school. Raising fees for all of them would have been difficult for me because I don't have a single source of income. My husband, the household's sole breadwinner, looks after livestock, which does not pay well. Because my goal as a parent is to keep my children in school and prevent their learning from being disrupted, I have been paying for them on time. Aside from the fees, I've been saving a portion of the transfer that allowed me to purchase two goats, and I now have five of them. I intend to keep these goats, allowing them to reproduce and multiply in number. When the time comes for my children to further their education, I can easily sell the goats to help them. Finally, the transfer assisted me in purchasing food for my family. I bought maize flour and other cereals to make sure my family had enough food. Despite the harsh economic conditions we are in and the increased prices of basic necessities, my children can now eat three meals a day.

This year, I want to make an investment in my farm by getting a few goats and some chickens in the hopes that it will help me if I ever run into financial trouble. Additionally, I'll use the money to cover the tuition for my nine children who are still in school. The importance of nutrition cannot be overstated, particularly in light of the ongoing drought we are currently facing.

I chose to make investments this year after using the majority of the funds from the previous year to pay for my family's tuition and food. As a result, I ended up spending the entire KES 3,400 available to me to purchase a goat. Prior to that, I utilized the money I was given to cover a medical expense I incurred after my cat bit me when I unintentionally stepped on it. Fortunately, I had the cash on me, so I started the process of getting medical help.

I used KES 1000 to clear the school fee arrears that my primary school going children owed the school and sent KES 1000 for my daughter who had just closed school for her fare back home. GiveDirectly has been of great support as the little income my spouse earns from his business of buying and selling livestock can not meet the needs of our nine children. I also bought five chicks worth KES 1000 for rearing with the hopes of selling them in the future once they will have reproduced. The income form them will be a boost to our household income. The remaining KES 3000 I spent on enough foodstuffs to sustain my family for quiet sometime before going back to the market to purchase more.

GiveDirectly has been nothing but generous to us back in the village especially because the funds they send have helped me sustain my family. It has also grown the bond between my children and I and my husband as well because before he took care of most of the needs of the family financially but through the funds I receive I have also been able to help my husband financially and he no longer feels overwhelmed.

I happen to have nine children who are still on school. One is in college studying nursing, two are on high-school while the remainder are all I'm elementary school. My husband and decided we would split on who paid who which kids so I took the responsibility of paying for our children who were in primary classes while he paid for the three that remained. So as soon as I received the funds I went on to pay KES 1,000 for the six of them I still owed the school fees worth KES 4,000. I then took another KES 1,000 and sort out a meal for my family where I bought around six packets of maize flour and sugar. I plan to use the remaining balance of KES 1,000 by sending to my daughter who studies nursing as her pocket money because she needs funds as well to take care of her needs while she is in school.

It was late at night and had just come from preparing the younger children to sleep. As I was preparing to go to bed, my phone had a message notification tone. I read the message before switching off my phone and getting to bed. To my surprise, I saw the Mesa message, which made me excited. I woke my husband, who checked his phone, although he was tired from the tedious routine of walking miles to find food and water for the livestock. He smiled warmly and I could sense his happiness from his facial expression before going back to bed.

The difference in my daily life since I received these funds is having food for my family because most of the days we sleep hungry or forced to buy food on credit. My challenge is we are both unemployed and with a big family, providing for the family is a challenge. Working as Livestock traders has its challenges and one of them is the income received depends on the market price and availability of customers. Most of our customers are facing the same challenges we are all facing, which is drought and hence business has been on the low. I am grateful because of the funds because of the financial support to provide for my ten children.

  I am married with ten children. My husband and I are livestock traders and hence it’s the only source of income we depend on. All my children are at school and it has been a challenge to raise them with the job we have at the moment. I spent my transfer of KES 700 for food and KES 500 as pocket money sent to my firstborn son, who is in college. It has been difficult lately because the climate changes that caused drought in our area highly affected our income. We lost so many goats and it has been quite a loss to our business, which has stretched our income and affected our basic needs.