School fees have been my main challenge ever since my children joined school. This is because I have had to rely on a small income from a small foodstuff business which has not given much. I have always used the profits from the business to help maintain the business, pay school fees, pay rent and meet other needs of the family. As a result, I have always found myself late with fees payment and my children being sent home regularly. It has not been my pleasure because anytime they are at home, they miss classes and this affects their general performance in school. I have seen improvement in their performance because they are not sent home as before.

My new goal is to continue paying school fees for my children. I would be a very happy parent when my children are not sent home for arrears. This makes me dedicated to providing the best for my family. I want to ensure they have all they need in time when I am able to provide. The other goal is to ensure I give them enough food so that they may not go begging for food elsewhere. this will ensure they have the right energy and keep them off from being misused by others for food.

I spent my transfer on paying school fees for my children. It has been my tradition ever since I started receiving these transfers to pay school fees for my children on a monthly basis. This has helped me reduce their balances in school. I used the other part of the transfers to pay my house rent. I was getting worried I might fail to pay because I have always used the transfers to pay rent since my income has not been much. The remaining amount, I used on buying food for my family.

Before the transfers, I did not have any source of income. My family was dependant on my husband's income. I was just in the house iddle. This is why we agreed with my husband to start a business which has really kept me busy since we started it. It has not only kept me busy but it has also raised our daily income because we add the little profit I get to what my husband makes which has really eased our financial burden. business

As we approach the festive season, I would want to make my family happy by doing for them something special. This is why I will save my transfers and use them to do something worth remembrance for my family during this year's festive season.

I spent my transfer on paying for medical expenses when I went to deliver in the hospital. I had been admitted at the hospital and we were unable to raise the money for paying the bills with my husband hence I used my transfer. The rest of the transfer on buying food for my family. Right now we have a lot to handle financially and buying food at once is very helpful in reducing our budget.

I used to depend on casual domestic jobs before I started receiving GD transfers. These jobs were very irregular and mostly paid very little money that would not take care of my basic needs. Most times, my house would be locked by the landlord due to failure to pay rent on time which forced me to break it open because I would not sleep on the streets together with my two children. This always landed me in trouble with him and he eventually kicked me out mid-month without any notice. Other than the landlord drama, my kids would always be sent away from school because of delayed fee payment and providing regular meals was even harder. All these have been wiped away by GD transfers which have given me the opportunity to start my own business that earns me enough money to take care of my needs without strain. I have since moved into a better house where my family's safety is assured and for the first time since time memorial, my children have stayed in school through an entire term because I was able to pay their school fees in time. I owe all these to GD and I will do my best to ensure that I don't go back to my previous life of misery.

I started a fruit business using last month's transfer so that I could have a stable source of income and eventually quit the domestic casual jobs I used to depend on. The business is still young and my plan is to grow it and make it my main source of income. I am currently hawking the fruits, though my main aim is to have a permanent stall where I can eventually sell other items such as vegetables for more income. I will save some of my transfers from next month so that I can be able to buy more groceries and acquire the necessary permits.

I used the money I recently received to pay my rent for the past month, paid school fees for my two children in kindergarten then spent the little amount I had left on foodstuff. I would have loved to boost my fruit business with part of the money but I was not able to do so because the other needs were too pressing to ignore.

My goal is to open up a restaurant at Muthaiga Estate, since I love and enjoy to cook. I feel that this area will offer good market for this business.

The biggest difference in my daily life is that I no longer have to depend on unreliable casual jobs and my children are no longer sent home for school fees. I have the transfers to supplement the little income that I get and our life has greatly improved.

I spent my transfers to pay my rent, to pay school fees for my children and to purchase household goods and items such as meals. I wash clothes for pay here in Mathare and in the neighboring areas such as Eastleigh, while my husband is not employed. My husband used to work and provide for us until the year 2007 during the post-election skirmishes in Kenya, that his arms were butchered and badly injured by an illegal sect group that was known as 'Mungiki'. His joints were injured and the doctors had to place metal wires to join his arms. Since then, he is unable to work and we have been depending on my casual engagements. The transfers have played a really big role in terms of supplementing the meager income that I receive from my casual jobs. I am very grateful to Give Directly.

I was still asleep when the message came into my phone and was woken up by the message alert in my phone. I checked the message that had come in and I saw the transfers. I was really excited as we did not even have breakfast for that day, and I first called all my friends to confirm if they had received theirs. I believed truly that the transfers were real.