Currently, my goal is to invest the money that I will receive from our savings group on livestock farming by buying some goats. This is a great investment since they increase in number over a short period of time. In addition, I can easily convert them to cash when in need since they're not so costly when selling. This goal will only be possible with the aid from GiveDirectly since without it, I would be so strained financially.

For the last four months, I have been able to save $ 60 in a merry go round group that we formed after being enrolled by GiveDirectly. Its members consists of GiveDirectly beneficiaries since we all use part of the transfers as our monthly contribution. In addition, I spent $ 8 on the purchase of shoes for my children since the ones they had had worn out. Aside from this, I used $ 42 to pay school fees for my children. I settled on this since I did not want them to be sent back home and lag behind on their studies. Our source of income as a family is burning and selling charcoal and with the current trend at school where students with fee arrears are sent back home once the teachers discover that the transfers has been sent out, I was afraid that our children will stay at home for a long time if we failed to pay a certain percentage. Using the remaining $ 26, I bought some food items and other household necessities to last my family for some days.

My new goal is to venture into livestock keeping, by raising more goats and engaging in poultry farming. I am motivated to pursue this path because I recognize the potential these ventures hold in terms of generating income for my family, especially during emergencies. Currently, I have three goats, but my aspiration is to expand my herd to over 20 goats. This is because goats are considered valuable assets and are highly sought after in the market due to their high demand. By increasing the number of goats in my possession, I aim to maximize the financial benefits they can provide. I am also interested in poultry farming as it presents another opportunity for income generation.

I have experienced a positive change in my life since I started receiving monthly transfers. For the past three months, my transfers have enabled me to pay the school fees for my three children who are currently attending school. This has relieved me from the struggles I used to face in the past. The transfers have also played a crucial role in meeting the food needs of my large family, consisting of eight members. With the assistance provided by the transfers, I have been able to supplement our food supplies and ensure that everyone in the family is well nourished. I am grateful for the transfers as they have improved our well-being.

My goal is to achieve financial stability. I believe that investing in livestock as a source of income will help me accomplish this. I plan to utilize the subsequent transfers to purchase goats which I will resell upon reaching maturity. I'm expecting that the proceeds from this venture will generate a substantial income that will allow me to pay for my children's education and live comfortably.

Being a mother of six children, educating and providing for their needs has not been easy. I dig up tree stumps in neighboring farms to earn a living, and the work is difficult and exhausting. The transfers could not have come at a better time, since I had fallen behind on paying school fees for my children and they were sent home during that period. I am thrilled that I was able to make use of $68 to pay off the school fee debt that had accumulated over time. We had been skipping meals for a while, so I used the remaining $30 to buy food that would sustain us. I am relieved that I am able to meet my family's basic needs.

At the moment, my husband burns and sells charcoal. He genuinely works as hard as he can to support our family, yet it feels like all of his efforts are in vain. I tend to the goats owned by other people with the anticipation of owning the calves once they are born. I only sincerely pray for the ability to acquire my own goats and begin raising them as investments. It is much simpler to invest into them and work hard to ensure their growth when you have your own goats. I will return the goats to the owner the moment I start purchasing my own animals and feel the confidence of having your own goats other than taking care of other people with all insecurities that come along.

I am a mother of six children; three of them are in school, one completed class eight and two of them are yet to join.We often get by on the monthly cash we receive, so I truly appreciate GiveDirectly. Life is hard, and it is getting harder and harder to even afford a decent meal. I presently do not have a job, so all I do is take care of other people's goats in the hopes that when they are ready to give birth, the young ones will become mine and I am devoted to doing everything in my power to provide my children a successful future. I believe that education can give them access to opportunities that will help them achieve greater heights and remember all the sacrifices I made for them when they are of age.The moment I received my transfers, I spent $20 to pay for three of my children’s school fees which really made them so happy. I recently joined a merry-go-round that we normally get to place $10 monthly and when your turn comes up you get $50 that helps us settle most of our debts. The remaining amount of $4 I bought food for my family for the month so that they will not go hungry for days.

My main objective for this year is to use a significant amount of my transfers to buy goats. My three primary school-aged children are entirely dependent on my husband and me for financial support. Making sure that we pay our children's school fees on time and avoid having them sent home has proven to be a difficult task while working as casual laborers selling charcoal. I'll be planning for their future in education by investing in livestock. If I run out of money and am unable to pay their tuition, I will sell the goats and use the proceeds to cover their costs.

Since I did not manage to advance with my studies, I have been a housewife from the time I got married. As my family increased, I opted for charcoal making to supplement the family's needs. Alternatively, my husband, Juma, works as a casual laborer, and his daily wages are always insufficient to meet our family's needs. With the most recent transfer, I spent $10 on debt payments that I took out to buy food for the family to stay in good standing with the lender. The rest of the transfer, $24 helped me to buy food for my family of eight members. I am glad that since I received the transfer, I have experienced a positive change in my way of life. Thanks to GiveDirectly for its charitable work.

My husband and I make a living by burning and selling charcoal. Since the practice is time consuming, it takes us at least four days to make a sack of charcoal. Due to the low demand, obtaining a vendor to purchase the product is another exhausting struggle. In a good week, we can earn around KES 800, which scarcely covers the needs of our family of eight members (six children). The greatest challenges we face are a lack of school fees and hunger. Three of my children had missed a day of school before transfer and would not be allowed back unless they settled their fee balance. So, I reduced the pending arrears with KES 2000, leaving a balance of KES 5000. They happily resumed their studies and were never sent home again. I used the rest of the money to replenish the maize flour that had run out that afternoon. I am glad that to date, my family has never run out of food.

I love the fact that GiveDirectly left us at the liberty of making decisions on how to spend the transfers because we understand what we need most ourselves. I would urge the organization to add some more transfers for us to be able to keep up with the rising standards of living.

It was so embarrassing and demeaning seeing my children go to school without school uniform. I could tell that they never felt in the right place because I never heard them talking about school life or having friends in school. Most are the day when they would be send home for both school fees and uniform and I would take them back without a single cent and talk to the school head to allow them back as I wait my for husband to get money from selling charcoal. All this used to sadden me as I knew all that I wanted was my kids to gain knowledge but poverty was the major hindrance. Getting daily food had also become another challenge as my husband would go for a week or two without selling charcoal and having one meal a day become like a privilege. We had already accumulated a bill of KES 1000 in the nearly home shop and the shopkeeper wouldn't allow us to take anything before settling the bill. I spend KES 1000 to settle the bills, KES 1000 to buy school uniform for two of my three school going children and KES 1000 to buy food. I'm looking forward to buy school uniform for the one who was left out when I receive my next transfer.

I was on my way to fetch water that morning when I received the message that the money had arrived. I was overjoyed because I had lots of things on my mind especially financial stress because my children could not continue to attend class and yet I had absolutely no money to aid the situation. Therefore when the money came in I was completely over the moon.

The funds assisted me in sending my kids back to school which is very vital to me because I really want to shape a better future for them compared to the one I had and as of now education is the greatest tool I can offer. This funds managed to help me keep them in school and also not miss out too much unlike other times where they stay home for weeks.

Two days prior to receiving the money three of my children were kicked out of school because I owed the school some tuition money that I had yet to pay. On the third day of them being home is when I received the funds from GiveDirectly and in my opinion at that time it felt heaven sent. I took KES 1,500 which I split among them equally which catered for a portion of the debt, but this would at least manage to hold them in class for the time being. The remaining portion was KES 1,500 so I took that money and added to part of my savings which was KES 500 that I had put away and used the money to buy myself a goat. I plan to rear and breed it with the purpose of domestic and financial gain because it could come in handy in the future.