My6 cloth business has been my main source of income for the past two years. It is the reason I have been meeting my basic needs without begging nor borrowing. Since all my needs depended on the profits from the business, the business started deteriorating since I was not investing more in the business. My worry was I was going to lose the only source of income I have always depended on. This is why I chose to continually boost the business by adding more stock to the business on a monthly basis through GD transfers. The fear of losing the business is no more because it has picked up well to an extend I no longer sell on the streets but I have rented a business premise.

My new goal is to boost my cloth business by adding more stock to the business. The business was not doing well because I had started using part of the resources from the business for my personal needs without investing back and I feared the business would collapse anytime. I am glad the fear is no more.

I spent my transfer on paying my house rent since time was due and I did not have any money to pay the rent. I have been using resources from the business to pay rent before the transfers and this has really affected the business. The remaining part of the transfers, I used to buy food for my family. I felt I did not have any other urgent need for the money hence decided to boost food stock in the house.

I am glad I was able to pay all my debts with GD transfers. I had a lot of debts from friends and colleagues. This is because I did not have any source of income to help me meet all my needs in time. I would have to rely on help to keep my life going on. Without the help of the transfers, I would not have managed top pay back all the debts I had. Thanks to GD I have a stable income in my cloth business.

Currently, I am still planning to continue buying household items. I do not have many things though I received some donations but there are some items which I still lack. That's why I will continue to buy new ones to get my life back.

I spent my transfer to buy new household items such as utensils which I lacked in my house. Three months ago, the house I used to live in got burnt and I lost all my items to the fire. Right now, I have to start afresh by buying new items.

My life is currently different from how it was before I started receiving transfers from Give Directly in that, I am now hopeful of being financially stable. I am planning to start a business using the monthly transfer. I also managed to take care of my emergencies, for instance, when my house got burnt, I was able to buy a few things to start off easily without taking loans. I could have opted for loans because I had no money when the fire incidence happened but I am glad that. I was among the beneficiaries of Give Directly.

My new goal is to save and start a business. Currently, I am unemployed. I used to partner with a friend where we could sell shoes in the neighborhood but I decided to leave the business because it was not doing well. I am planning to start my own very soon using the transfers that I get from GiveDirectly.

I spent part of my transfer on purchasing a mattress, clothes, and utensils. My house burned down recently in a fire accident. The money came in handy because I was able to buy the few items that helped me to start over again. I stay with a friend whom I did not burden so much because I could afford to buy the basics and took take care of myself too. I thank GiveDirectly so much for the support that really helped me when I needed it most.

At the moment, I have two goals now that I have started receiving the money. First is to start a business of buying and selling second-hand clothes. Second-hand clothes business is the most preferred because the goods are not perishable and have a ready market as long as you target the right customer. I plan to achieve this by using my savings from my transfers. I believe my daily sales will be good if I also employ good marketing skills. I will then start saving so that I will later use to open a studio. opening a studio business is my second goal and opening it will help me to diversify my sources of income by not relying on only one source. Owning these businesses will help me meet my needs on time and also have some money to use in supporting my parents.

The biggest difference in my daily life since I started receiving payments from Give Directly is that I no longer steal money from people like I used to. Before GiveDirectly came for enrolment, I had started engaging myself in some criminal activities such as stealing from people in order to get money to meet my daily needs like food and paying rent. It was never my pride to do this but I had no option. Surviving in slums with no source of income is very difficult. I always felt guilty for doing this but would find my self doing the same thing the following day because it was the only thing I could to make ends meet. I stopped stealing from people after receiving my first transfer since I knew that at the end of every month, I would be able to get money to sustain me. I have also started thinking of ways I can improve my life by investing what I get monthly from this organization so that I do not go back to stealing when this project is over. I really thank God for using GiveDirectly to change my life and bringing me back from my unlawful acts.

I spent part of the transfer pay rent. My landlord is not an understanding person therefore, settling my rent was the first priority. I always consider it first among all my other expenses. I am planning to start a business so I had to save some amount for this purpose. I felt like starting a business was a good idea since the money I usually get from my daily hustles is not enough to cater for all my expenses. I believe the business will boost my income and sustain my family even after Give Directly have finished their project in this village.

I was overjoyed the moment I received a notification message from Give Directly stating my first transfer was sent to my account. I knew that my worries and hustles in life would finally come to an end. I would be able to achieve a lot in my life because I had planned several ways of using the transfer to increase my income and still sustain me after GiveDirectly has left.