I want my kids to go through school. It now feels like an impossible task as my husband has no work while my business of selling charcoal is almost non existent. I want my children to have a fighting chance through getting a good education and I want to help them go through school and advance their studies beyond primary school so that they have opportunities us as their parents never had. I also want to invest in animals to help facilitate this dream hence from time to time I plan to invest my transfers of buying animals.

I am a mother of 6 school going children, 5 are in primary school and one in college. In September I distributed $30 of the cash among the 5 primary school children and used the remaining $4 on buying soap and body oil. My two children did their national exams and will be moving to the next level, one did her class 8 exam while the other did her class 6 exam. I have set aside my November transfer for the one who finished class 6 while the October transfer I set aside for the child in class 8. The class 8 child will be joining form one and I hope to use this $30 set aside to help start their process of joining secondary school. For the one in class 6 I have bought uniform for junior secondary school and have set aside $20 to help start them up as they join class 7.

My daughter is currently in Class Eight at Ikanga Primary School. As the year comes to a close, she will be sitting for her end-of-term exams before transitioning to secondary school. I have great confidence in her abilities and believe she will excel in her exams, paving the way for her to move on to secondary education. To ensure a smooth transition, I am determined to save more money so that by the start of the next year, I will be able to enroll my daughter in a secondary school. The support I have received thus far has brought me immense happiness and has been instrumental in assisting me in achieving this goal for my daughter's education.

I recently purchased a new dress for my son who is studying at Ikanga Primary School. He had been sent home from school due to a torn and heavily damaged pair of shorts. The new shorts brought him great joy, and he was allowed to return to school to continue his education. In addition, I allocated $24 from my funds to support my eldest son, who is currently pursuing a welding course in college. Once he acquires the necessary skills, he will have better employment prospects, which will be beneficial for both him and our family in the future. The remaining $60 debt that he owes will be cleared in the upcoming months using my subsequent transfers. My husband, who works as a mason, often faces challenges in finding jobs that provide sufficient income to support our family. Nevertheless, I am extremely grateful for the financial support we have received so far, as it has significantly improved our quality of life.

My family has two main goals to achieve this year. Since my husband and I do not have a regular source of income, I hope to divert my transfer on paying school fees for my children. It will enable my children to have ample time in school to aid their learning. In addition, I hope to start a business buying and selling charcoal. Although it has a low net profit, I consider that better than just staying in the house doing nothing. I am so happy as a result of the transfers, I will start a venture that will earn me a living.

I burn charcoal to earn a living while my husband is masonry. I spent $26 from my most recent transfer on she-goat. I had never raised any goat before, although I had been desiring but could not do so due to my low level of income. I am hopeful that should my flock increase, I shall be able to sell some and gain some additional income. That can be helpful post the cash transfer period. Because I have some school-going children, the youngest had fee arrears of $4. I prioritized spending it on school fees for my last born. I used the rest to buy food.

At the moment, my firstborn completed primary school in December last year. The goal that I have is to enroll him in a technical college to pursue a carpentry course this year. Additionally, I want to concentrate on providing quality education for my 5 children who are still in primary school. They are always out of school due to fee arrears, something that bothers me a lot as a parent.

I was honestly quite relieved when I received the transfers especially because at the time I really needed the money. My first priority was to ensure that I settle the debt in tuition fee for five of my kids therefore, I ended up spending KES 1,500 out of the money for that. Afterwards I proceeded to spend KES 1,600 on purchasing six packets of maize flour, a kilogram of sugar and cooking oil because there was hardly any food left. I was left with a balance of KES 300 on me which I spent it on purchasing laundry detergent and body oil.

We have eight children, all in primary school. We do not earn enough money from our casual work to sustain them but still, we give them the best that we can. They are frequently sent back home due to school fees arrears , one thing that does not make us proud as parents because every parent wishes that their children excel in life. They owed the school KES 6000 tuition fee which we cleared with part of our last three months’ transfers. I paid half of it while my husband paid half. I also bought four chickens for rearing worth KES 2000 and used the remaining KES 4000 to purchase enough foodstuffs to sustain my family for quite some time before budgeting for more.

We are thankful for the unconditional transfer that we received from GiveDirectly. A lot has changed in our village courtesy of the transfers. There are so many aged people around who can not engage in any economic activities due to their old age. They had lost hope in life and had well-wishers as their last hope for them to get a meal. Currently, they are regaining their health because of the monthly stipends. They can at least budget with the money they receive. I have no complaints at all about what GiveDirectly did in the village but praying that they would even do more in other villages.

I have a six-year daughter who has not enrolled in school because we could not afford both the enrollment fees and the other school requirement. We burn charcoal for sale but it is dominated by most people in our village and this has lowered both their demand and prices. We have eight children and providing for them with limited income is a real challenge thus we decided to let the girl stay at home as we figured out how to raise her school fees. Therefore, when I received the second transfer I used KES to purchase her school uniform while KES 1000 I saved for her school fees. I am glad and proud everything is in place for her school. The remaining 1000 KES I spent on some of the foodstuffs for my family.

Immediately I received my transfer, I felt so grateful to GiveDirectly. That day, I did not have any money and in my house hence I could not purchase food for my family. In fact, I had gone to the market to sell some charcoal I had previously made. I felt so happy and very privileged because I never anticipated that transfer at moment. When I came back home, I shared with the family members about my transfer, and everyone was equally excited because they had also received their transfers.

Upon receiving the transfer, I was able to buy food for my family of 10. This marked a big difference in life because I was able to provide for my family. Previously, all food stuff had been consumed. I am glad that although life seems hard at the moment, the transfers gave us a relief and whatever I bought has been able to take us for about a week. I am glad for being considered to be among the beneficiaries of such a life changing program.

That morning, I had woken up very early in with the aim of going to the market to sell two basins of charcoal that I had then. I was very broke and In my house, there was no trace of food. My family had depleted whatever food we had the previous night. While in the market, I realised that my transfer had been sent. In my heart I was relieved to have received such kind of support. I knew that at long last, my family of 10 members will finally have food on the table. Thanks to GiveDirectly for honouring me with such a memorable support.