I am pleased to announce that I have completed the construction of my son's house. This means I am now ready to pursue a new project. In the upcoming year and beyond, I plan to invest in purchasing goats. My second priority is to ensure that my children receive a quality education. Therefore, I am determined to pay their school fees on time to prevent them from being sent home due to outstanding balances. At this point, I have acquired four goats. These goats will provide me with a source of income to cover my children's school fees once my current source of income ends. What excites me about investing in goats is their ability to adapt to our climate. I have observed my neighbors' goats thriving even during drought seasons, which is very promising. Once I have established this project to my desired standard, I intend to begin saving to expand my one-room house to a two-room house. The current space is too small, and I believe that adding an extra room will provide me with a more spacious living area that can comfortably accommodate all my belongings without feeling cramped.

I have five children who are attending school, and receiving these transfers has been incredibly beneficial for them. Thanks to the regular monthly transfers, my children have not been sent home due to outstanding fees. My consistent payments have earned the trust of the teachers, ensuring that my children are not sent home even if there is a fee balance. Upon receiving the most recent transfer, I used $68 to pay my children's school fees to prevent them from being sent home. This financial support allows my children to focus on their studies without worrying about fees. Additionally, I invested $25 in purchasing a goat, considering that they multiply and I can sell them in the future to generate income for my children's school fees. With the remaining $9, I bought food for my family, as the transfer came at a time when we were in need. I am grateful to GiveDirectly for the support.

Now that I have achieved my goal of building a new house for my son, I have set a new goal in mind. To save more money from incoming transfers and my charcoal business. With this money, I aim to pay for my children's education even after they finish college or university. I believe this is the best way to create a better future because our current life isn't good at all. This goal gives me hope that things will improve for my family in the years to come.

For a long time, my sons sought shelter from my relatives because my house was too small to accommodate all eight of my children. This situation was incredibly frustrating for me as a parent, and I reached a point where I felt like a burden to my relatives and believed I had let my children down significantly. The constant worry gave me sleepless nights as a mother, prompting me to take action. I used $102 from my transfers over the past three months to buy building materials such as iron sheets, poles, and nails, specifically constructing a one-bedroom house for my sons. I am happy to mention that the house is now complete, and my sons no longer need to seek shelter elsewhere. They now have the privacy they need and can do their school assignments more easily, unlike before. This step has brought me immense relief and gratitude. Given that my charcoal-selling business is not very profitable, it would have taken years for me to build a house on my own. Therefore, this achievement is particularly significant, and I am profoundly grateful for the support that made it possible.

As previously mentioned, my primary goal remains constructing an additional house to provide adequate sleeping space for my grown-up children, alleviating their need to share cramped quarters or seek accommodation elsewhere. While I have not achieved this goal yet due to unforeseen challenges, I remain optimistic about completing it before the year's end. Although I have managed to acquire some of the necessary construction materials, I still need to obtain at least 17 more iron sheets and additional supplies. I have adjusted my approach and plan to purchase these materials gradually, using part of my monthly transfers. Specifically, I have decided to allocate at least $15 of each transfer towards purchasing these materials, while the remaining amount will be used to meet the educational needs of my children. Ensuring my children receive a quality education is paramount to me, despite the challenges we face. I am committed to providing them with the best opportunities, even in difficult circumstances.

In order to fulfill our dream of constructing an additional dwelling for our grown-up children, who are struggling to find comfortable sleeping arrangements in our overcrowded home, I made the decision to join a savings group. I committed to saving $30 of the monthly transfers for this purpose. In February, when I received my share from the group, I used part of it to purchase construction materials, including 10 iron sheets and 40 poles, totaling $140. However, due to our low income, which comes from charcoal making and my husband's casual jobs, I had to allocate some of the payout to urgent needs such as school fees for our five children. This left me unable to purchase all the required materials for the house construction as planned. Undeterred, I made the difficult decision to withdraw from the savings group. The long wait until the next payout was not feasible given our current financial situation. Instead, I opted to use part of the transfers to buy the remaining materials, while also ensuring we could cover other essential expenses such as school requirements. Lately, my husband has been unable to secure decent employment, and committing $30 to the savings group would strain our finances further. Thus, I chose to withdraw to gain some flexibility in managing our finances. Despite these challenges, I remain hopeful that I will still be able to achieve our goal of constructing an extra house for our children.

In the coming years, I aim to venture into livestock farming, particularly cattle keeping. With six children in school, most of whom are in elementary school and have a long way to go in their educational journey, I believe that livestock keeping will be an excellent source for covering their school fees. Considering my husband's earnings from casual house construction jobs are very low, I'm uncertain if we can afford the children's education expenses. In the future, I can sell the cows to pay for my children's schooling. Buying calves would be a more affordable option for me, as they cost around $150 each. I hope to save some of the cash transfers to make this plan a reality.

Having six children in school can be challenging for my husband and me, especially when it comes to providing for their educational and food needs, as we lack a reliable source of income; well, apart from the cash transfers we now receive. My husband relies on occasional house construction tasks, which are not frequent and can lead to hardships, including hunger. So, from the last three cash transfers, I allocated $46 to contribute to buying food for the family. I'm pleased that this helped us get by until our harvest. I also spent $22 to buy a goat and $12 to purchase two hens. I believe that having livestock will provide financial security in the future, as I can sell them to support the needs of my children. I used $10 to pay school fees for four of my children who were frequently sent out of class to collect outstanding balances. I'm grateful because the cash transfers have played a significant role in keeping the children in school and providing food for the family, thereby relieving the pressure on my husband.

My utmost priority is to guarantee that my children receive the education they deserve. With the monthly stipend, my primary objective is to cover their school fees and ensure they face no obstacles in their learning journey. Furthermore, alongside paying the school fees, I aspire to construct an additional dwelling that can accommodate all five of my children. Our current house is small and lacks sufficient space, making it imperative to create an extra room to accommodate their needs adequately.

Due to my inability to clear the outstanding school fees, my children were sent back home and remained at home for five days. However, after receiving my June transfers, I allocated $10 to settle the school fee debt, allowing my four children to return to school and resume their education alongside their peers. This brings me great joy. Moreover, apart from clearing the fee arrears, I invested $27 in purchasing a goat. I supplemented this amount with $3 from my savings, enabling me to acquire the goat. My intention behind this investment is to secure a future income source. Once the goats multiply, I can sell some of them and utilize the funds to support my children's education. Presently, my main sources of income are selling charcoal and engaging in subsistence farming. Unfortunately, these ventures do not generate substantial earnings, making it challenging to meet all our needs. Additionally, my husband, who is a mason, struggles to find employment due to the limited job opportunities available in our village. Nonetheless, I am immensely grateful for the financial support provided by Give Directly, as it aids me in overcoming my financial difficulties.

I was worried about how I would be paying my children's school fees. Whatever income I have been making from charcoal sales has always been insufficient to meet our nutritional needs. I struggle to raise school fees for my seven children. They are a number, and we do not have a consistent source of income. With the current security of my monthly income, I have set a goal of diverting most of my monthly transfers to pay for my children's school fees. I believe this will help them advance in their studies. I am glad they are doing well in school currently.

I am a mother of eight children, and both my husband I do not have a reliable source of income. I do charcoal making, a strenuous and low-income venture to earn a living. My husband does house construction work which he gets irregularly. With the recent transfer, I spent $27 on a goat, and now I have two goats. At first, I did not know I could be able to raise even a single goat. The rest of the transfer, $7 helped me to obtain food for my family of ten members. For the previous three months, the transfers I received came in handy in helping me to pay off school fee arrears for my seven school-going children.

I had never received financial support for the magnitude of what GiveDirectly gives to our community members in my life. I never imagined that one day I would feel relieved from the abject poverty that has characterized my life since birth. However, I am pleased to recognize the good practices implemented by GiveDirectly to promote development and poverty alleviation in impoverished communities. As a result, I support its unconditional cash transfer model, which has given us the freedom to choose our preferred method of spending. It keeps in touch with us regularly, which builds our faith in it. So far, I have not found anything that GiveDirectly does not do well.

While my husband works in masonry, I make charcoal to support my family. However, our income is always irregular and unpredictable. As a result, meeting the educational needs of our seven children remains a challenge for us. My family sometimes goes without food, especially when my husband is out of work for a few days. I spent $7 immediately after receiving my most recent transfer to pay the examination fee for my seven children, each of whom had to pay $1. Second, I spent $13 on food since we never had some. The rest I spent on two domestic fowl. When my flock grows, I will have an additional source of income in the event I sell them.

I felt excited when I received the first transfer as it meant a financial relief to our household. My spouse had not been lucky to get the construction he does for some weeks while our children had not paid for their examination fees. I had lost hope that they would sit for their examination because we had no other means to raise their fees. The moment when I received the money I thanked God for the miracle as it was the only way to sort out the children's examination fees.

The ease of paying for our children's school fees is the biggest difference in my daily life, especially clearing the vast examination arrears for our seven children who almost missed sitting for their examinations. My spouse who is the main income earner had not been lucky to get the construction work he does for two weeks leaving us with no option but to let nature take its course. We are glad the money was sent when we needed it the most.

We have seven children. My spouse does construction work in Mombasa town, but he complains that it is not reliable and there are times he misses work for two weeks. This leads to challenges in providing for our seven children in most cases. I do casual work, mostly burning charcoal for sale and at times I sell firewood to boost our income. At the time when I received my first transfer, our children had stayed home for two days because we had not paid for their examination fees. I, therefore, paid KES 800 for their fees, and I am glad they were able to sit for their examinations. The remaining KES 350 I spent on some of the foodstuffs for my household members.