This year, I aim to pursue a hairdressing course, which perfectly aligns with my passion and skills. Unfortunately, my plans were disrupted when my father, who was my main financial support, passed away suddenly in April, just as I was set to join college. However, I remain optimistic. I intend to utilize my savings to fulfill this goal and honor my father's memory by achieving success in my chosen field. Developing a skill that allows me to earn an income will significantly enhance my family's financial stability. I am sincerely grateful to GiveDirectly for being a steadfast source of support during these challenging times.

My husband works as a mason to support our family, but his income barely covers our needs. Previously, accessing food and water was a challenge, but I'm grateful that our circumstances have improved. We are now able to meet our basic expenses such as food, water, and clothing. With the transfers received, I allocated $25 to purchase a small goat, intending to rear it for future profits. Utilizing the remaining $9, I purchased essential household items that were depleted. Additionally, $34 was dedicated to facilitating my father's burial expenses, after he passed away in February. Furthermore, I used $34 to purchase iron roofing sheets for renovation purposes as my house suffered damage during the heavy rains. These transfers have empowered me to realize my goals, and for that, I am sincerely grateful.

In the upcoming year, I aspire to enroll in a college to acquire proficiency in hair plaiting. This skill will enable me to establish my own business, generate income, and contribute to fulfilling my family's necessities alongside my husband. Additionally, I am dedicated to completing the construction of my residence. I have already procured a substantial quantity of the requisite building materials, including construction poles, nails, and iron sheets. I am genuinely delighted with the financial assistance, as it will play a pivotal role in realizing these objectives in the forthcoming year.

A significant portion of my transfers, totaling $64, was allocated to procure food for my family. Given my reliance on my husband, who earns a livelihood as a casual laborer in house construction, the recent prolonged heavy rains have led to a scarcity of such work, posing challenges for his income generation. The purchase of food ensured that we did not go to bed on an empty stomach. Furthermore, I dedicated $10 to cultivate one acre of my two-acre plot in the village, considering the promising rainfall. Opting to plant maize will guarantee an ample food supply. Additionally, I acquired three pieces of iron sheets to construct a new, more spacious two-roomed house. The current dwelling is quite cramped, and transitioning to the new residence will afford us more space. I am genuinely content with the financial backing from the transfers, as it has significantly enhanced the quality of my life.

My plan is to build a bigger house. My husband and I have a house but it is a small one room house. I would like for us to have a two room house with a front extension. We live in a room where we have all our thongs on display even when we have guests they have access to our sleeping area which is not dignifying. I hope to at least have a room for our sleeping areas separate that even when we have guests they only have access to the living room area and even during the scorching sun we can sit in the front extension and shield from the sun.

I had a chance in June to go see my grandmother and it was quite a pricey journey for me. I spent My entire June transfer on it. I spent $30 as my transport to and fro there and as is custom I couldn't go barehanded, I did some food shopping and I used $4 from my transfer. In May I spent my transfers on buying building poles at $20 and paid for my land to be tilled at $5, we also bought food for $9. In April I had also invested an amount in buying building poles $15 and I got myself some clothes $10 as well as food $7 and toiletries $2.

My husband happens to be the breadwinner of our family and he works in a construction site where he is paid $8 when there is work at the site to do. At times he comes home empty handed and we are forced to go hungry some days. To avoid going for days without food and also come out of poverty, I want to join college where I will go learn about the saloon. I love making, plating and doing make up and I believe in beauty, you will never go wrong. I will first go and get free training from my neighbor who has a saloon near my place so that when I join college, it will be much easier. I had dropped out of school while I was in class eight because of my parents inability to pay my fees and I have no certificate. I really wanted to join college earlier but due to financial constraints I am forced to first complete my house construction project and later join when I am finally stable enough. I will also buy goats that I will be taking care of and when they grow I will be able to sell them at a profit and the best thing about goats is that they can withstand the prolonged drought.

I currently live with my husband in our small, muddy house that he inherited from his beloved father. Ever since I got married, my biggest desire was to build ourselves a new house where I can comfortably give birth to our first child and also easily raise our children there. To make my dream come true, I currently work in a hotel near my home. I normally get paid $50 a month that I save towards my project goals. The moment I started receiving my transfers, I started buying building materials so that by the time I start building my house, I would have all the required materials. with the recent transfers, I spent $15 to purchase building sticks that I will continue adding until I have enough to start my construction work. Sometimes My husband does not have money as his job is a casual one, to avoid going hungry for days, I stocked up for food at home. I spent $10 on food and the remaining amount of $9 I bought clothes for myself so that I can look young and beautiful.

I am eagerly anticipating the monies I will receive this year because I plan to completely renovate my home so that I may add more rooms. Currently, my husband and I are the only ones living in our home, but we plan to expand our family in the future, so this will be useful in the long run. Additionally, I hoped to create a business where I could own a kiosk before the year is out by using the money I was given. I want to start a business so I can assist my husband with household expenses because he struggles to pay them.

Due to the adverse effects of drought, nutrition has been one of the biggest and constant predicaments that my family and I have experienced, and not only my family but also the entire village as well. Therefore I was over the moon when I noticed that the money had actually been sent out and so I decided to spend most part of it on nutrition. I initially spent KES 1,400 by purchasing Maize instead of maize flour. The maize weighed twenty kilograms and I bought that instead of the flour because it was less costly and it would last us longer. Afterwards I proceeded to spend KES 1,700 on purchasing groceries which included tomatoes, kale, potatoes sardines and I also spent a portion of that money to buy drinking water because it was scarce. lastly I remained with a balance of KES 300 which I used it to purchase a hen.

GiveDirectly is definitely doing a great job if I do say so myself and this is because through the funds I received I managed to open up a business which I never thought was possible in a million years because money was already had to come by. Therefore I am quite grateful for that because now I can also chip in when it comes to some of the bills at home.

After I received the first transfers, I decided to open up a business to help my husband when it came to providing for the family especially since I did not have job so I set up a small business where I sold maize flour and sardines at the comfort of my home. Therefore this time round I decided to add on to the stock of my business so I bought sardines worth KES 260 and bought maize worth KES 1,600 which I took to mill to get grinded for KES 140. Buying maize and grinding to flour was less costly as compared to purchasing ready made maize flour. I was left with about KES 1,000 which I ended up using KES 700 on medical attention since I fell ill and the balancing remaining was my fare to and fro.

My husband informed me I had received a text message on my phone. I read the message, and was surprised to learn that I had received my first transfer. I jumped up and down and hugged my husband as I broke the good news to him about the transfer. I looked up at the skies and whispered a short thanksgiving prayer, thanking the lord for the miracle.

Starting the business using the money from the transfer has made a big difference in my life. I can now help by buying food and complimenting my husband, who recently lost his job. I am grateful that I am financially stable and able to provide for the family.

The past three months were tough for my family (husband and me). My husband, who was working as a casual laborer building houses in Mombasa town, lost his job and came back home. In the village, he works on manual jobs, fetching water for people and repairing houses which earn him less money compared to his previous job. I have no job and fully depend on him to pay all the bills. Upon receiving my transfer, I invested KES 400 in starting a business selling “Omena”. This will help ease the burden on my husband in paying the bills. I bought food worth KES 800 with the remaining amount of money because we had nothing left to eat.