In the coming year and beyond, my main focus will be on my son's education. I believe that giving him a strong foundation will open up opportunities for his future. I want to ensure he has everything he needs to succeed. After he completes his college education, I plan to start a livestock farming venture as an investment. I already have four sheep, and I want to expand this small flock. My goal is to steadily grow it, knowing that livestock farming will provide a stable income for our family in the long run.

I am the father of seven children, all grown except for my youngest son, who is still under my care. To provide for my family, I do subsistence farming to sustain us. However, education is the key to a brighter future, so I have been using the transfers to pay for my last born son's college fees. With the most recent three transfers, I carefully allocated $90 towards his fees at Kisauni Polytechnic, where he is taking a plumbing course. This investment in his education is vital, as I want him to have the skills and opportunities to build a better life for himself and our family. After securing his education, I used the remaining $12 to buy food for our household, specifically some sugar to sweeten our meals. It might seem like a small thing, but ensuring my family has enough to eat and a little comfort means a lot to me. These transfers have been a lifeline, allowing me to support my son’s education while also taking care of our daily needs.

My current goal for this year and beyond is to continue funding my son's education until he completes his course, which is expected to be in July next year. Completing the course will give him a good chance to seek employment and become self-sufficient. In addition, I plan to invest in purchasing more livestock. I currently have five goats and two sheep, all purchased with the help of money from the transfers. This livestock is a valuable investment that will support me in the future. I am very appreciative of the financial support I have received so far.

My son joined college in June of last year, undertaking a plumbing course. It is very important for me to finance his education so he can acquire the necessary skills to secure a good job in the future. Since the school is far from our village, he requires constant financial support to continue his studies. I sent him $88 to cover his tuition, accommodation, and meals. I am glad I can provide for him despite my primary source of income as a peasant farmer being adversely affected by harsh climatic conditions. I also spent $14 to purchase food, ensuring my family had enough to eat and never lacked food on any particular day. I am deeply appreciative of the financial support I have received from Give Directly. It has enabled me to finance my son's education, a task that would be very difficult, especially now that my income source has been disrupted.

I rely on subsistence farming to earn a living, but the unpredictable weather has made it difficult to support my family. To supplement our income, I take on various odd jobs. Life can be challenging, especially without formal education or skills. My primary goal is to provide my son with an uninterrupted education and help him complete his college studies. I plan to use my monthly transfers and earnings from nearby casual jobs to cover his school fees. The assistance I have received has truly transformed my life, and I am immensely grateful for the positive impact it has had on my family.

Last September, my son began his college journey, and I have been solely responsible for paying his tuition fees. After a long time of being at home without pursuing higher education, he expressed an interest in acquiring plumbing skills. Motivated by his aspirations and the monthly transfers, I decided to help him fulfill his dream by enrolling him in a plumbing course. I extend my sincere gratitude to GiveDirectly for their assistance, which has been instrumental in enabling me to cover the costs of my son's education—a commitment that was previously beyond my means. As a result, I directed all the transfers I received towards paying his school fees. This commitment has brought me a sense of peace, knowing that he is now comfortably pursuing his education. I am deeply thankful to GiveDirectly for their support, which has been crucial in our lives. Without their assistance, my modest earnings from irregular employment would not have been enough to meet the financial demands of my son's education.

My primary focus right now is to support the education of my son, Karisa. Two years ago, after he graduated from high school, it was a financial challenge for me to send him to college as I lacked the necessary funds. Initially, when I started receiving the cash transfers, I had to prioritize buying food because our family was constantly facing hunger. It was only when we had a good harvest recently that I began saving for my son's education. I'm happy that Karisa has now joined a plumbing college, and I am committed to supporting his education until he graduates in the next two years. While I would have liked to invest in buying goats and expanding my livestock holdings, my son's education is my top priority.

My son Karisa graduated from high school about two years ago, and I have always wanted to send him to college. However, I was financially unable to do so given that am advanced in age and cannot take strenuous tasks to generate funds. Mostly, I rely on subsistence farming, especially during the rainy season, to provide for my family. However, this alone cannot cover all our needs, particularly the school fees for my son. He is the only child still in school, and while my elder son occasionally provides some support through his small business, I am primarily responsible for meeting the family's financial needs. Over the past three months, I have been saving the cash transfers to be able to enroll him in college. I am excited that he has recently joined a plumbing college and is progressing well in his education. Although there is still a remaining school fee debt of $100, I am relieved that he is continuing his education.

As a farmer, I usually sustain myself through subsistence farming. However, during drought seasons, I heavily rely on the support of my son who owns a shop in town. My goal is to explore livestock keeping as an additional means of improving my livelihood and reducing my overreliance on my son. Specifically, I am interested in starting to rear goats and sheep. By engaging in this venture, I aim to secure resources that will support my needs in the future and provide a sustainable source of income.

In February, I spent the money to buy a sheep. The purpose of acquiring the sheep is to ensure that I have a valuable asset to rely on once the cash transfers come to an end. For the following months, the funds were primarily allocated to purchasing food, as the lack of food has been a persistent issue in my household. I am grateful that I no longer experience frequent hunger and can sleep without going to bed hungry, which was a common occurrence before I started benefiting from the cash aid.

At the time the transfers were being sent out by the organization it was around the time to celebrate Christmas. The arrival of the funds made me feel quite excited because this meant I could finally be able to afford a couple of items for the celebrations. I went ahead to spend the entire money on nutrition so I ended up buying a bag of maize flour which contained a dozen packets, two packets of wheat flour,three kilograms of beans, one and a half litre of cooking oil and lastly a kilogram of sugar. Prior to that, the previous funds that I had received I also spent on nutrition as well due to the persistent drought.

Give Directly helps me put food on the table for my family by sending monthly cash transfers. With hunger being our most pressing matter, the organization is critical to its gradual eradication, for which I am grateful. However, as the Swahili adage says, "the more you get, the more you desire," I wish the monthly transfer could be upped to $100 in order to wipe hunger from my family's narrative entirely.

One of the main problems facing my household is hunger. Due to my advanced age, I cannot actively participate in providing food for the family. My two sons, one operating a kiosk business and the other burning charcoal for a living, bear the family’s responsibility burden. Their earnings are sometimes not enough to feed the entire household of twelve people, that is, plus their wives and my seven grandchildren. In fact, we all had slept hungry the night before receiving the cash transfers. To relieve the hardship, I used the entire transfer amount to buy foodstuff. Nothing brings me more joy now than seeing my grandchildren enjoy decent meals after school. Am glad that my family has never missed meals since that fateful night. 

I received the message notification on my phone at 9 pm when I was fast asleep. I woke up in the morning to good news after reading the message and realizing that I had received my first transfer. It motivated me to go out and look for a job. I shared the good news with my wife we both rejoiced and thanked the Lord for the gift.

Buying food for my family was a vast difference for me. That evening we had slept hungry because I was unsuccessful with my job hunting. When I woke up and found out that I had received the transfer, I was thrilled.

I am a farmer and the only breadwinner of my family. Catering for my family's needs is difficult since I no longer work on the farm because of the drought. Getting another job is very difficult because I did not complete my secondary school education, and I have no academic certificates. I currently depend on manual jobs such as building houses, fetching water, and carrying heavy luggage to the market. The pay from these jobs is very little and is not enough to buy a three-course meal for my family. Often we are forced to survive on one meal per day or worse, sleep on empty stomachs. Therefore, when I received my first transfer, I was over the moon because I spent the entire amount of KES 3000 on buying food for the family.