My main focus is to build a house and invest in livestock. I believe that with the help of GiveDirectly, I can accomplish my goal of constructing a better home. The current condition of our living situation is worrying, especially when I see dark clouds gathering. My house is made of old iron sheets that have started to develop holes, causing us to get wet when it rains. What's worse, the walls are made of mud, which has become weak and prone to falling apart. During heavy rains, the walls could collapse and result in significant damage, especially during the night. To address this, I am using my monthly transfer to build a two-roomed dream house. Since my casual jobs provide only a modest income, I spend most of it on food for my family and allocate a larger portion of the transfer to buy building materials. I'm happy to report that I am almost finished buying the necessary poles and iron sheets; I only need four more sheets before I can start the building process. Once the house is complete, my next goal is to invest in livestock, hoping that they will multiply. Selling them will provide funds to support my children's education. I am very grateful for GiveDirectly's financial support, which is helping me move closer to achieving these goals.

Last season, the crops were severely affected by harsh weather conditions, and we couldn't harvest any maize. Consequently, the income I earn from my daily work has been fully spent on buying food for my family. In the past, I could allocate part of my income to support my project by purchasing building materials, but that's not possible now. In our previous communication, I mentioned that I had completed purchasing the necessary items for the construction project. However, I had only bought almost all, but not all, of the materials, and I had planned to start the building work soon after. Unfortunately, due to the need to allocate a larger portion of my funds to buy food, progress has been slower than anticipated. I am very eager to build my dream home, as the current house we live in is made of mud and the walls have become dangerously weak. I fear that heavy rains could cause it to collapse and cause significant damage. With my most recent transfer, I spent $60 on modern iron sheets to aid in the building process. I also used $30 to pay my monthly merry-go-round contribution, which helps us pool funds together for personal development. Lastly, I spent the remaining $12 on food for my family, as we were in urgent need of supplies.

I’m excited to share that I’ve completed purchasing all the building materials for my two-bedroom house. Now, I’m focusing on gradually paying for the labor in advance to get the construction underway. Once the house is built, my next goal is to invest in livestock, hoping they will multiply. Selling them in the market will provide the funds to support my children's education. Currently, our home is in such poor condition that it’s on the verge of collapsing. The thought of having a safe, sturdy house fills me with immense joy. If everything goes as planned, I’ll celebrate this achievement with a heartfelt party, grateful for the progress and stability it will bring to my family.

My dream has always been to have a two-bedroom house, as our current one is too small. Gradually, I’ve been purchasing building materials and paying for labor in advance. With the recent transfers, I spent $50 on additional building materials, completing all the necessary purchases. I also used $15 of the transfers to start paying for the construction labor. Additionally, I spent $16 on food to supplement what we already had. Finally, with schools resuming, I paid $25 in school fees to ensure my children could attend school.

I am a father of 7 living with his wife in our small one room house. The house is now falling apart due to years of rain falling on it and bringing it down. I want for my family to live in a more comfortable house. I dream of building them a two roomed house. This would remain only a dream had I not gotten this transfers. I have bought some building poles and 2 sheets of iron which is a step in the right direction. My hope is to eventually complete this house using my transfers as I also focus on buying some animals using my savings from my savings group.

Givedirectly transfers has brought immense change in my life. unlike before the transfers, the education of my children is no longer a matter that stresses me. I have seven school going children. My work as a herder doesn't make enough to take care of their schooling, however now with the transfers I can be able to take care of them. I paid school fees for three of them using January transfers, I paid $29 for their school fees while the remaining $5 went into buying books for them. December was the period of festivities, I spent $20 on clothes for 4 of my children which all cost $5 each and then spent the remaining transfers to get flour and other food items. In the month of November I saved $10 in our savings group, bought two sheets of iron at $20 and also got some soap and sugar at $4.

My biggest goal at the moment is to construct a better house for my family. Our current living condition is not good as we fear that the house may not be able to withstand extreme weather conditions such as heavy rains and may eventually collapse. To prevent this disaster and assure my family of their safety, it is paramount that we construct a new house. I have been purchasing the required materials in bits due to low income and increased cost of living, but I am happy with the progress I have made so far. I have now purchased most of the materials and hope that I will complete this project before the end of the year. Once this is complete, I will set a new goal long term goal, which is most likely to construct a separate house for my teenage children.

My current house is very small and is also not in a very good shape and we fear that it may eventually collapse, especially during heavy rains making live under a lot of discomfort and fear. I have been planning to construct a better house for my family, but it has not been easy especially since I do not have any stable source of income and with huge family to care for. Most of my recent transfers have been shared among school fees, foodstuff and construction materials which is why it has taken me too long to complete this goal. With part of my recent transfer, I however decided to purchase a goat which I found at a great price. I sacrificed the purchased of materials to purchase this goat because I knew it was a good investment. Later on when it can fetch more money, I can sell it for more materials.

As I said earlier I have seven children and they all live at home. My children sleep in their uncle's house, my younger brother, and their grandmother's house because my house is not sufficient for them to live in. I want to use the savings that I make monthly to begin a project of building a house for my children. I want to build a two room house that will be sufficient for all the 7 of them even as they go through school and try to get a footing for themselves. I am hoping by the end of the year I will have began building so that I can use the coming years transfer to finish the structure.

I am a father of seven with 4 school going children. I used to really struggle to make payment for their school fees before being enrolled by Givedirectly. I decided that I will have a basic budget for my transfers on a monthly basis and unless of emergencies I spend the money on practically the same things monthly. I spent $10 on my children's school fees and in most cases I will speak to the teachers to ensure they are not sent away with the assurance they will receive $10 monthly for the four from me. We also formed a savings group among my GIvedirectly supported neighbours where we have a merry go round systems where one of the ten of us receives the contributed amount monthly. I also use $10 on food since the children have to be well fed to understand when they learn in school. I also get some toiletries which ensure they are clean even as they go to school at $4 monthly.

Following the December rains, my house's mud walls were seriously damaged. Am afraid that the entire structure may crumble anytime as it seems unsteady and slanting towards one side. Besides, it is a one-room house, which is becoming small for my growing family of nine people. My goal is to have built a new two-room shelter, made of brick walls and a tin roof by early next year. I hope to continue having the capacity to save part of the cash transfers so that I can start buying the building materials. 

Working as a herdsman, my salary can barely sustain my wife, mother, and seven children throughout the month. Besides, the high cost of living that is dominated by increasing commodity prices has intensified the hardships in my household. Regular meals are a luxury that we rarely enjoy; sometimes, the best we can eat is twice a day. To alleviate the situation, I budget my cash transfers to mostly cover the basic needs. I spent $14 from the recent transfer to enroll two of my children in kindergarten. Am glad that all my children are schooling; all credits to Give Directly. I bought food worth $10 as my family had starved for two consecutive nights from lack of money for maize flour. I saved the remaining $10 through a merry-go-round club in my community. The aim is to continue saving so that I can receive a lump sum sometime in April that will help with the household expenses, especially school fees. In December, I directed $19 towards new clothes for the children to wear on Christmas. To them, dressing up in new attire is what aces the festivities. I spent the remaining $15 on food as well. From November cash, I obtained a goat for rearing worth $31 and spent the rest on food. Am happy the goat recently delivered a kid, and I hope it continues reproducing to grow the herd.  

In my opinion GiveDirectly did very well by giving us support in form of cash. This gave us the freedom to choose how to spend the money. As for me, I am so elated that I am now able to pay school fees for my children much more easily than I used to do before I received money from GiveDirectly. We just organize ourselves as a family and see how we can make payments for school fees alongside making savings and meeting other family's ecpenses. I feel I have a helping hand through GiveDirectly.

I used $10 to make my monthly savings and used another $10 to pay school fees for one of my children. The remaining amount of $10 was used to buy food and other basic household needs for my family. I am a father of seven children with four of them already in school and three are yet to start schooling. I work as a herdsman for someone within my village where I earn $40 per month. The money is hardly enough to feed my family let alone pay their school fees. It has been a real struggle paying school fees for my children and I am so grateful to GiveDirectly for giving me a helping hand. I have been struggling to make some savings each month that I withdraw in December before I started receiving GiveDirectly funds, I would save up to a maximum of $3 per month but am so happy that for the two months that I have received the transfers, my savings have increased to $10 per month. The savings are normally very helpful to me in meeting my most immediate needs like payment of school fees. This time round, I am optimistic of making it to a total of $100 at the end of the year. This money shall be very helpful to me as I will invest the money on purchasing livestock. These livestock investment shall in turn help me in paying school fees in future since they multiply within a very short time. My wife is not engaged anywhere in any form of casual work and has been very helpful to me and to my family in taking care of our home including the livestock.

It was around 4.00 p.m. while I was still attending to the cattle in the grazing field. I had left my phone at home, and my kids informed me I had a message when I went home. Upon checking, I realized I had received money from GiveDirectly. I was overwhelmed with joy and thus decided to take some rest and only went to the shop the following day to buy food.

Receiving the transfer has enabled me to become more financially disciplined. I used part of the transfer to buy food and saved some in a merry-go-round group. In addition, I paid school fees for my son which helped reduce my financial burdens. Before GiveDirectly, I could rarely save money and pay school fees concurrently. I am grateful to GiveDirectly for the support.

I am a casual laborer taking care of someone's cattle for pay. I have a family of ten, and I am the sole breadwinner. My income from casual labor is too little to cater to my family's basic needs hence receiving the financial boost from GiveDirectly was a big breakthrough. I received the transfer when I had no food and no clue where I would get money. Using the transfer, I saved KES 500 in the merry-go-round group, paid KES 200 for school fees for my son in class four, and bought food worth KES 500. I thank GiveDirectly for supporting me financially.