I could not have peace of mind seeing my two daughters at home every week just because I couldn’t raise money for their school fees. Being sent home for lack of fees every week had become a new norm to them. As a parent, I felt helpless and failing them in their realization of their goals. My life is currently different because after receiving the financial support from GiveDirectly, I was able to clear their fee balances and they were allowed to continue with their studies. In addition to this, my children no longer seek shelter from neighbours as they used to do before GiveDirectly came. I built a new house for them through the transfers and they can now study comfortably while at home.

In my opinion, GiveDirectly does well in transforming our lives through unconditional transfers. In my village, we were living in abject poverty and not able to meet the most important basic needs such as food and shelter. We were also not able to provide quality education to our children. They would be admitted in school and the next day they are at home for lack of fees. Our lives have now greatly improved because shelter is no longer a problem to many and we no longer struggle to pay our children's school fees like before. I honestly do not see anything that GiveDirectly does not do well.

I spent KES 43000 of my second transfer on paying school fees for my two daughters in High school. Raising enough fees for them has been a challenge since I do not have a stable source of income. I mainly depend on casual jobs to fend for my family. I’m grateful to GiveDirectly because, through their support, I was able to pay their fees in advance. Because of this, my children will be allowed to attend classes without interruptions. For once they will not be sent home due to fee arrears and I am truly grateful to GiveDirectly for enabling me to achieve this. I spent the remaining KES 10000 to buying additional building materials to finish a house project for my children that I had started a year ago. They have been sleeping in my neighbours' house which was not safe considering the long distance they had to cover after taking supper. It was also affecting their studies since they now had to do their homework the following day at school. Having their own shelter has now boosted their academic performance since they can study comfortably. I am also not worried about their safety like before when they used to go all the way at night in search for a place to sleep.

It was around 9:15 in the morning when I was from taking shower when my phone started ringing continuously. That was an indication that there was a new message. Without wasting time I decided to check its content. Only to realize that it was the long-awaited message from GiveDirectly. I felt happy because I definitely knew that my children would finally go back to school.

The biggest difference in my daily life is that through financial help, I was able to send my two children to school. One was in his third year and the other one joined recently and clearing the fees at once was not attainable. Since we only depend on my spouse for our daily bread and solely rely on casual jobs, paying the fees on time was not possible. This forced them to stay home for quite some time because of the huge fee balances. This really demotivated them and affected their academic performance as well. I am now a proud parent because they are studying comfortably with fewer disturbances. This assures a bright future for them and their generation.

I spent part 180 USD of my first transfer on clearing school fees for my two children who are both in secondary school. One had just joined and the other one was in his third year and we have really been straining to make them get a good education without being disrupted with an issue of school fees arrears. However most of the time this was not available. In addition to that, I bought iron sheets, timber, threads, and nails, and labor cost 180 USD. This was for the construction of a new house for my children who have been sleeping at their grandmother's house for all those years. I am using the remaining amount of money to buy foodstuff and other household items.