On a good day, I generate up to KES 200 from making thatching materials from palm leaves. This income is not enough to meet all the household needs such as food and school fees. My heart breaks whenever the children are sent out of school to collect overdue fee balances since am afraid they may end up skipping classes for days due to lack of money. Therefore, I deducted KES 4,500 from the recent transfers to slice the fee deficit at the schools. Also, I utilized KES 3,500 to acquire food including 90 kilograms of maize to guarantee the availability of meals throughout the month. Finally, I saved KES 1000 through a self-help group for future financial emergencies.

Before receiving the transfers four of my children had been sent home due to pending fee balances they had and they had been home for two days in a row because my husband had also not been able to get enough money to send back to school. On the third day I received the money and I paid KES 1000 for the four of them which I shared KES 250 among the equally. I also took KES 500 and sent fare to my daughter who was in highschool so that she could manage to come back home. As for the rest of the money I decided to take care of nutrition of my family and so I bought eight packets of maize flour for KES 800 then one and a half kilogram of sugar, tea leaves and beans which cost me KES 350. Then I put the remaining KES 350 into my savings account for a rainy day.

I think to give directly does well in terms of awarding us cash directly. This has proved to be something good to us recipients. We can plan accordingly on how best we can utilize the money according to the needs we have. By doing this we have the freedom to attend to the most pressing needs first.

I have a daughter who is in a boarding secondary school. Things have been getting tough on me financially and I have not been able to get some money to clear the school fee debt. My daughter owes the school a KSH 12000 debt for this term. Raising this money by myself has proved to be a very difficult thing for me. I currently do not have a job. My other children who are still in primary school also depend on me. My daughter has for the past month been sent home severally to come home and pick school fees. This has also affected her academic performance in school and has left me very stressed about it. Immediately after I received the transfer, I spent KSH 1000 in paying school fees for my daughter. I spent the rest of the amount on buying food for my family. Due to the harsh economic conditions affording to buy food is also very difficult as prices are becoming very high.

It was around 9 am in the morning. I was working on my getting my charcoal sack by the roadside so that I could begin selling them to the people passing by. I received a text message and upon looking at my phone I found out that I received cash from Give Directly. I was very happy and even decided that I was not going to carry the sacks anymore. I headed straight to the Mpesa shop where I withdrew the cash and gave some bought food for the family.

This money has made a big difference in my life. Before receiving this money, everything seemed difficult for me. The burden of providing for my life was growing bigger and bigger each day. Thank you to you I can now smile and say I am better now than before. U have been able to buy food for my family, and my children are also back in school. 

I received a total of KSH 1200 from Give Directly. I spent KSH 770 buying food for my family. I do not have a well-paying job at the moment and depend mostly on casual jobs. What I do currently is burn charcoal and wait for orders so that I can sell. Now that we are having an unstable economy, it is very hard for me to be able to get customers and sell the charcoal to them. Three days can pass by without having sold any sack. This then makes it difficult for us to cope with life, and we end up sleeping hungry at times together with my family. When I received the money, my priority was to ensure that I bought food for my family. I also spent KSH 400 on school fees for my children who were had already been sent home due to school fees.