Being amongst those who missed out on their transfer this month, I must say that I am quite disappointed. I had planned on paying my children's school fees so they may not be sent home now this will be inevitable. But in all. The cash donations have been quite helpful and this is a great gesture give directly has shown us.

I am a mother of 8 children, 6 of whom are in school. Putting them through school is my ultimate goal. My husband works hard in his job as a builder to make sure our needs are covered; I also help out with the bill payment from my job as a charcoal manufacturer where I make KES500 bi-weekly. Even with the efforts we make, school fee payment has been a challenge. So, when I got my first transfer of KES1200, I used KES1000 to pay their school fees, and KES150 I used on food purchases. As for my second transfer of KES3000, I saved a third of it in the Chama, and the remaining amount I paid for my children's school fees. Their current school fee arrears now stand at KES9500.

My morning usually involves fetching water for home use as well as taking care of afew things within the compound. It was around 10 and I was making vegetables to eat when I heard my phone ring. I called onto my son who was home since I was unable to settle their debt in school fee arrears and asked him to check who it was, on checking he informed me that I had received the transfer that was promised by give directly. This was the happiest time of my life as I knew I would be able to sort my children out. I sent him since to withdraw the cash and slept with the cash. The next morning I proceeded to my kids school to make payments. I also knew that my children and I would have something to eat. We had had days when we had nothing for people to eat in the house but with this transfer I knew sorting out acouple of things was possible.

As at now their isn't much of a difference. I however know that long term my family shall benefit. My children will be able to attend school and I will be able to fully settle school fees arrears that I owe the school. I will also be able to afford food for my children whenever any amount is left from the transfers.

I received my first transfer in December and my children were home from school at the time due to the hefty fee arrears that I have. They had been chased from school for failing to pay the school fee. I was able to pay 500 shillings for my daughter in form one whose debt at the moment is 10,000 shillings. For my 6 children in primary school I paid 200 shillings for each of them to bring down their 1500 shillings debt each. I used 500 from the give directly transfer and added a small addition which I used to make the 1200 payment for the 6 children to reduce their debts to 1300 each. I used the rest of the amount to get maize flour which would come in handy for food for the family.