I have five children, 4 school going and one yet to join school. I am a farmer while my husband used to work at a bakery bit is no longer employed now. My goal is to create a way of ensuring we are financially protected whatever the eventualities of life. I am working on building an animal her of goats and chicken, I now have 4 goats and two chicken. I hope to buy more even as they also reproduce. This animals can be sold at times of emergencies to cover any financial needs. Best thing about animals is they reproduce which gives an assurance for multiplication.

In November I had planned on using my cash on preparing for the holiday season. In our village the holidays are a big deal, you need to look good, I spent $20 from my November transfers on clothes for two of my children and bought myself a wrapper in December at $5. I also knew we would need to have food befitting for the holidays, In November I spent $14 on food while in December I spent $15 which included wheat flour to make pastries that people would have throughout the holidays. I also got chicken for eating at $5 while in January I got 2 chicken for rearing at $10. Since my children were going back to school in January I spent $24 in paying school fees of $5 each for the four and buying them books at $4.

I want to invest in goats. I currently have four and aim to increase them to ten with savings from my transfers. I believe that through this goat investment, we can secure our future, including my children's education.

I am a mother of five children, all of whom are currently in school, and my goal is to see them achieve their dreams. The moment I received my transfers, the first thing that came to my mind was paying their school fees. I used $30 for their fees, and the remaining $4 I spent on buying detergent for cleaning.

We are planing to construct a house since the one we are currently living in is falling apart. We have a floor that needs to be reconstructed. This will ensure we have a safe place to live in together with my family. Having a better house has been my dream and at this point I feel its coming to pass. We are also hopeful that we still manage paying school fees for our children. This has also been a struggle but with the transfers we have being able to meet the school requirements. In addition to all this, I will add about Five goats to help us generate income. Keeping them in large scale.

We have always struggled to pay school fees for our 4 children who are all in school. The eldest is a candidate in class 8. followed by another one in grade 4, grade 1 and the last on in PP3. I paid kshs.500 for each one of them.This has become our greatest accomplishment. We are happy that the children can comfortably stay in school, unlike before. I bought a Goat worth kshs.2500 which has already given birth to a kid. I also bought a bundle of maize flour but not at once. I have been buying packets in bits which has now filled up a bundle.I would say the packets costed between kshs,170 and kshs.210, bringing this to an of average of kshs,2280.

In my family, we do not have the luxury of enjoying all the basic needs such as food, clothing, and school fees for the children. My husband’s part-time job at the baking company can only cover as much as food costs, and nothing beyond that. Besides, given the rising cost of living, the $6 he makes after every two days hardly provides regular meals for our four children. Being my only source of income, the cash transfers allow me to reach essentials that my husband’s earnings would hardly afford. For instance, I spent $20 from the December transfer to buy new clothes for my children to enjoy the festivities in. For them, dressing up in new attire is what glazes the Christmas celebrations and it is my priority as their parent to bring them that joy. Apart from clothes, I spent $25 from the October transfer to buy a goat and $8 from the November transfer to buy two chickens. When these animals multiply in the future, I could sell them to generate money and support the needs of my family. Finally, I had to budget the remaining amount from each of these three transfers to buy food, which was worth  $45. At least, this relieved the burden off my husband’s back and bought him time to raise enough money; he was happy. 

GiveDirectly's work and the assistance we received were so beneficial in so many ways that most families are now living a better life. After receiving the funds, many people paid their children's school fees. The organization did an excellent job, and I wish the program would extend to other village after completing the current project in our village. I saw nothing wrong with the entire process and am grateful to have been a part of it.

I am grateful to my husband for shouldering the burden of paying school fees for my five children as well as ensuring adequate food for our family of seven. When I receive the most recent transfer, I make certain that I contribute and relieve him of some expenses. My five children each required $2 in examination fees. I was delighted to fill in and pay after receiving the transfer. I also spent $10 on maize flour, which is currently expensive in our community due to the severe drought. I spent $5 of the remaining funds on two chickens and the rest on the construction coop where the two chickens are currently housed.

At around 9 p.m., I was getting ready for bed when my phone beeped with a message alert. I checked its contents right away and confirmed that Give Directly had sent my first transfer. A wave of relief washed over me because I had been waiting for this money to help alleviate the household's hardships.

The ability to eat rice after consuming corn meal for over a month was the greatest highlight I drew from the transfer.  In my community, rice is regarded as a festive food that elicits positive feelings when consumed. That is why being able to eat this meal on an ordinary day meant so much to me.

Since my husband had not earned enough money from his job at a bakery in Mombasa, I used KES 800 from the transfer to pay examination fees for my four children.  They had been sent home from school to collect these fees, failure to which they would be unable to take their mid-term tests. In addition, I purchased food with the remaining funds to last us the next two days while I waited for my spouse to send money for household necessities.