Before I started receiving financial assistance from Give Directly, I had a small grocery business that I run. I did not earn much from this business because it was not located in a very good area that had fewer customers. With the help of the transfers, I was able to rent a stall at a busy shopping centre and boosted my business which has generally increased my profits. I am at a position where I do not have to rely on my husband to provide everything for the family as I did before because I can now assist through my earnings.

My mother has a very tiny house back in the village that I wish to enlarge so that she can have enough space. My main aim is to save as much money as possible, through my business and the transfers that I will be receiving for the rest of the period so that at the end of the year, I can raise enough money to fulfil the dream of constructing my mother a bigger house.

I used part of the money I recently received to pay school fees and make a new school uniform for one of my children who lives with my parents in the village. I also boosted my business which had reduced on stock by adding more then added the rest of the money to my monthly savings at my group.

When I made my mother the promise of putting up a decent house for her, I did not know how and when I will fulfill this promise because I did not have a good income to help me meet my needs and even spare some amount for putting up a house for my mother. I started my little savings with my profits from the shoe business and it was growing very slowly. I did not know how to grow it faster until I started receiving my transfers from GD. Right now, I can have the assurance that I will be able to deliver on my promise because of GD transfers.

My new goal is to continue with my savings. I am determined to keep my promise to my mother of building her a new house. I will channel the transfers to savings until I get the required amount to buy enough building materials for building her a decent house.

I spent my transfer on savings in our monthly merry-go-round savings. I plan to use my savings in buying building materials such as iron sheets which I promised my mother. She does not have a good house and I promised to build for her a new one. The rest of the transfer I used on paying school fees arrears for my son who should be sitting for his final examinations in two weeks time. I am glad I have cleared his arrears. The little that remained, I used to boost food stock we had in the house.

My life is different in that first, I have completed my saloon and cosmetics course which I began six months ago through the financial support from GiveDirectly. I can now open my own saloon as I have the required skills. I am now looking for capital to open the saloon. Also, the transfer has helped me to pay for my children's school fees, thus relieving me of some costs which I would have otherwise spent a lot.

I have been saving some amount to enable me to purchase iron sheets for the construction of a house for my parents in our rural home. I had a target of buying 40 iron sheets since I began receiving the transfers and I have managed to buy 25 so far. My goal, for now, is to ensure that I fulfil this promise by purchasing the remaining iron sheets.

I spent KES 1500 of my recent transfer to clear my outstanding tuition fees after completing a saloon and cosmetics course that took six months. I also used KES 2000 to pay for my children's school fees for them to continue comfortably with their studies. On the remaining amount, I spent it on meeting my family's basic needs such as foodstuffs and in paying for household expenses.

My goal is to open a salon. I will save part of my monthly transfers in table banking and will use the savings to open the salon in future after I completed the hairdressing course. This will be a source of income and I will be able to help my husband to provide some of the family basic needs.

The biggest difference in my life is that I no longer depend on my spouse to provide all the basic needs for my family. I used my transfers to buy food and clothes for my children and my husband can save the money that he could have used to buy food and use to pay school fees for my children. I have fulfilled my dream to pursue hairdressing in college.

I spend my most recent transfer to enroll in one of the colleges to pursue hairdressing. I have been longing to do the course but I have never got the money to pay my school fees. I also saved the remaining amount in table banking since I am planning to build a house in my rural home. When I go home on holidays I stay with my mother in law and her house can not accommodate all the family members and at times my children go to walk for long distance to sleep with their aunt.

I was very happy when I started receiving my money. I t was such a great achievement since I knew that I will be able to enroll in one of the hair dressing colleges and pursue the course of my dream. I bowed down to thank God for that have come into my life.