As I enter my final year of secondary school, my main focus is on performing well in my final exams. To make sure I'm fully prepared, I plan to use the money I receive in transfers to get all the necessary school supplies to help boost my performance. But most importantly, I want to ensure my school fees are paid on time to avoid any interruptions that might come from late payments. To achieve this, I will continue setting aside $30 from my monthly transfers specifically for my school fees. Whatever's left will go towards covering my personal and school-related needs. Since I know my parents will not be able to support me financially for college due to their low income, once I have cleared my fees for the year, I will shift my focus to growing my herd of goats. This way, when the time comes for me to go to college, I can sell some of the goats to raise the necessary funds for my education.

I am currently in high school, but my parents can not afford to pay my fees because they rely on occasional construction jobs, which are hard to come by in our village. To make sure I can stay in school, I decided to use $30 of the monthly transfers I receive to cover my fees. This has made a big difference because I no longer miss school due to late fee payments, which used to happen often. As a result, my grades have improved. After I have cleared my fees, I usually use the remaining money to invest in things like livestock. Right now, I have 4 goats and 3 chickens thanks to these investments. Sometimes, I also use the money to buy things we need at home, like clothes and shoes. During the December holidays, I treated myself to a new dress and a pair of shoes with some of the money. I also bought a mattress for $25 and added another goat to my herd, which cost $30. Through these endeavors, I am not only securing my education but also actively building a foundation for financial stability and personal well-being.

My aspiration is to become a teacher, and I plan to make this dream a reality. Once I complete my secondary education, my goal is to join college and pursue a teaching course. Teaching has been my passion since I was a little girl, and I'm grateful that GiveDirectly will provide the means to achieve my dreams. To work towards this goal, I intend to sell the livestock I've accumulated so far. Furthermore, I will use the money from subsequent transfers to support my college education. I'm filled with anticipation about what the future holds and look forward to the journey ahead.

I am the third-born in a family of seven children, and life has not been easy for us. My father works as a mason, and my mother is unemployed. They do their best to provide us with our basic needs, but it is not enough to sustain us. In the past, I often missed classes due to unpaid school fees, but I'm grateful that this changed when I started receiving transfers. GiveDirectly has enabled me to pay my school fees on a monthly basis, and I am currently preparing for my final examinations. With the transfers I received, I allocated $42 to clear my school fee debt, ensuring I can continue my education. I also invested $40 in purchasing a goat and a chicken, which I plan to rear and eventually sell for a profit. The remaining $20 was used to buy a new school uniform and other essential items, as my previous uniform was torn, and I had run out of necessary supplies. I am grateful to GiveDirectly for this chance as it has renewed my hope and I look forward to a better future.

After I finish my secondary education, I want to enroll in a teaching course. In order to that,I plan to invest the rest of my transfers in livestock and poultry farming. Any money I generate from those ventures will go toward paying for my college tuition. That would mean a lot to me once I find a job as a teacher,since I will be able to financially support my parents.

I am a form 4 student at Mnazi Mwenga Secondary school,and I'm delighted to say that these transfers have been very beneficial to me. I was born into a household of seven,and my parents are unable to finance the cost of my education. As a result, I had to pay $42 to catch up on my unpaid school fees. I also spent $47 for a goat and a chicken that I plan to raise. I will sell them at a profit once they start reproducing and use the proceeds to fund my college education. Since whatever I already owned was worn out, I purchased new clothing with the remaining funds and utilised the rest as pocket money.

I am currently in form four and I look forward to passing my national examinations later this year to proceed to the university. However, am worried that my father may face challenges in raising my college fees. As a house construction worker, his tasks rarely come by, which leaves him earning too little to sustain my six younger siblings and me. My plan is to support and start rearing livestock, which I can sell in the future to pay for my university tuition. Particularly, I hope to have acquired at least seven goats by the end of the year.

I chose to invest $25 from the recent cash transfer on a goat to kickstart my rearing quest. With their ability to withstand extreme climatic circumstances such as drought, I am confident that goats will outlive any other type of livestock, which is why I decided to raise them. My wish is to expand the herd and accumulate as much wealth, as I could sell in the future to meet my needs like school fees.  My father currently pays for my secondary school, as well as the education of my other six siblings. His house construction job, however, barely yields enough to cover the household's needs. Sadly, requesting personal necessities from him can feel like a great burden at times. That is why I spent $5 of the transfer money to acquire a dress for New Year's enjoyment and the rest on sanitary supplies. I am grateful that the cash transfers have lessened my over-reliance on my father and allowed me to purchase some items without depending on him.

GiveDirectly as an NGO has a core goal of alleviating the most deserving communities from the abject poverty that has been hindering them from achieving their potential. Since its inception in my community, it has excelled in supporting the destitute by giving unconditional cash transfers. It has also devised secure means of sending cash through Mpesa, a mode that helps safeguard beneficiaries from fraud and theft-related risks. Lastly, I feel it also does well by keeping in touch with the recipients through regular follow-ups. Based on the benefits I have received from GiveDirectly, I do not have any opinion on what it does not do well.

I am a school-going girl although I had been struggling with paying school fees. Though I am not an orphan, both parents have not been in a position to fund my secondary education. They are jobless and only rely on casual irregular jobs to support a large family of 10 members. Due to this struggle, I was almost on the verge of giving up before I got enrolled in GiveDirectly's program. As soon as I received my second transfer, I opted to spend the whole of it on paying part of my school fees. I am glad that at least the arrears have been reduced and I shall have ample time to concentrate on my study. The transfer means a lot to me and I am very hopeful that I shall succeed with my education courtesy of the GiveDirectly's transfers.

I was delighted with the receipt of the first transfer. Raising school fees for my studies had been a challenge because of our poor family background. Receiving the money meant that I would go back to school after staying back at home for three days while others were in school. I was happy and grateful.

Having reduced the school fees arrears I owed the school is the biggest difference in my daily life since I started receiving the transfers. Though it was not much but at least it made a difference, and I was allowed in school for some weeks. I still owe the school KES 2000, and I am back home again for the arrears but I have hopes that I will soon clear it with the transfer I will receive this month. Thank God for the support because it has revived my lost dream of being a teacher. It would not have been possible without the support because my father whom I rely on could afford the school fees.

I am a student at Mnazimuenga secondary school and I owed the school an arrears of KES 3170. I come from a humble background, my father who is the main income earner does construction work, but he does not earn enough money from it to sustain our needs. By the time I received the first transfer, I had already stayed back at home for three days because he could not raise some money for my fees. I, therefore paid KES 1170 to reduce the arrears, and I am glad I was allowed to resume school.