I have a decent house, but the current toilet is in poor condition due to inadequate drainage. Good hygiene is essential, and we often have to ask our neighbors to use their facilities, which is inconvenient, especially with visitors. Sharing a toilet with neighbors is not ideal, so I plan to build a proper stone toilet with effective drainage to improve our sanitation and convenience. To start this project, I am saving up and need $500 to cover all the construction expenses. This improvement will bring me great joy, as the current situation has been a significant burden.

As a father of four, I prioritize my children’s education, considering it essential for their future success. With the transfer, I used $20 to cover their school fees, ensuring their education remains uninterrupted and they are not sent home. I also spent $14 on food to make sure they have meals when they return from school. Currently, I have three goats, which are a good investment because they can breed and be sold for a profit. I invested $34 in additional goats, anticipating that they will multiply relatively quickly. With the remaining $34, I restocked my business by purchasing spare parts for my garage. This allows me to repair items such as tires and meet customer demands efficiently, thus increasing my potential for profit.

In the coming year and beyond, I want to venture into a goat rearing project. This is because I have a passion for livestock keeping, and additionally, goats are easy to maintain. In my area, the climate favors them, and I see most people who have ventured into this are doing well. Prices of goats are rising, hence this is an advantage to goat keepers. To achieve this goal, I will use part of my monthly transfer to buy a goat every month. Eventually, once I have a good number, I will sell some and eventually buy a cow. The reason why I need this cow is because they provide many benefits ranging from milk to fertilizer to siblings, etc. And this will be good financial security, hence I will not live a life of worries. Since I know once I have a financial problem, I can sell and get money to sort out my issues without begging from neighbors and friends.

I rely on casual jobs to support my four school-going children. GiveDirectly has helped me meet our family's basic needs, especially when it comes to paying fees for our children. Unfortunately, during my most recent transfers, my wife was very sick, so I allocated $34 for her medication. Since I have school-going children, I decided to buy a goat for $30, as they multiply very fast and can provide ongoing support for paying fees for my children in the coming future. Additionally, when they multiply, I plan to sell some to get money to support my children's fees. With the remaining cash, I bought food worth $3 for family consumption and finally spent $4 to pay fees for one of my children to prevent him from being sent home due to fee balances.

I can confidently say my business has improved greatly, my earnings have also improved greatly. I had hoped that this business would be restocked that the business is able to stand on its own. I would want to add stock to the point I am not worried if the business is able to stand on its own. I am still planning to continue adding to the business to the point that it can run and restock itself. I also want to start animal farming but this will be dependent on the finances I have.

I have always been a businessman even before Givedirectly came my way. I had my small store where I sold motorcycle parts to locals. The business was not doing well as our needs have become so many because we had a bad drought that meant we bought everything we ate. My business took a huge blow and I needed to figure out how to find my way out of this. Givedirectly became a saving grace for me at the time I started receiving the transfers as I would periodically send cash to the business from the transfers I received and I have seen a significant growth in the business. I spent $20 in January and November restocking the shop. I bought clothes for the children at $14 in November while in January I used the same amount to pay school fees. I also got a goat at $33 in December.

After finishing my studies in 2010, I returned home and launched my garage business, specializing in repairing and selling motorcycle and bicycle spare parts. My main ambition is to expand my inventory and improve my family's quality of life, so I'm determined to save up for this goal.

I am a father of five children, three of them are school going. The moment I received my transfers, the first thing that came to my mind was my children's school fees. I spent $10 on their school fees so that my children will not be sent out of school. With the remaining transfers which is $24, I bought food so that my children can eat when they come from school.

I'm planning to add more goats and keep them as a source of income. I would want to rear them ,sell them and grow more and keep the cycle going.I'm planning to save more cash and add stock at my work shop. I'm hopeful that there will be a bumper harvest. This will sort out my food issues and my household will not lack food. All this will mean a stable income and I will be able to afford basic needs with ease. My children will be comfortable in school.

I have been saving some part of the transfers. This has enabled me to do alot of things. I bought a goat that was worth Kshs.3500, which to me was a great accomplishment. I run a spare parts shop, where I sell motor-bikes and Bicycles spare parts. I was able to put in kshs.2000 into the business. I'm also a farmer, and since it's the planting season, I spared some kshs.4000 which I used to plough a 2 acres piece of land. I had seeds already so that was just for ploughing and planting. However, I had one extra acre that I ploughed myself. I have 3 children who are in school. I pay their fees and provide their school requirements through the transfers as well.

I hope and pray that we get enough rain this year so that we can buy food at lower prices because it will be easily accessible from the farms. I would like to use the money from my transfers to fix my house since we will have plenty of food available. My house mud walls and poles are in poor shape, and if I don't take the necessary steps sooner, I worry that the house will collapse. I intend to construct sturdy pillars at each of the house's four corners. This will give the house adequate stability and make it safe for my family to live in.

I own a small business in Mnazimwenga Trading Center where I sell bicycle and motorcycle spare parts. B business has been declining in recent months due to the loss of business from the motorcycle taxi operators, . My income has been impacted as a result, and I am unable to replenish my supply of necessities. So when I got my January transfers, I spent $20 more on additional business supplies. I'm happy that more customers came into my store as a result, and I also made a good profit. In addition, I contributed $10 toward my five children' tuition at Mnazimwenga Primary School. They were able to stay in school as a result, and the head teacher did not send them home. I finally bought my family two 2 kg packets of maize flour. Now that the farms are no longer productive due to the severe effects of the drought, hunger is the biggest issue I have to deal with. We have to survive on two meals a day or, if things get worse, one meal a day because the food we buy is so expensive. I value the financial assistance in helping me stay out of precarious situations.

GiveDirectly does well in that it has enabled most of the people in our community to venture into different projects, This includes poultry keeping and goat rearing among other viable projects. I do not find anything that GiveDirectly did not do well.

I have a spare shop for motorcycles and I added stock of $20. This is my main source of income to support my family in meeting all their basic needs. I am so grateful because I am able to meet all the demands of my clients now. This has enabled me to generate good income which was not the case before. I wish to continue adding more stock and make this business expand. The remaining $10 was spent on purchasing food and other basic items that we were missing at home. I am o happy because GiveDirectly has enabled us to boost our business by getting more stock.

I only noticed that I had received the money when I came back from work and I was honestly very very happy about it and this is because I considered the funds as a boost in helping me keep my business afloat.

This particular instance, I would have to say it was helping me in maintaining my source of livelihood which is what the funds aided in and this is due to the fact that I rely on what I make to sustain and provide for my family and their day-to-day needs and that is why I'm grateful.

About ten years ago, I opened up a business where I started selling motorcycle and bicycle spare parts which has helpeddd me in sustaining my family ever since. Therefore upon the arrival of the transaction I decided to use the money to add onto the items that I needed for my business and this cost me KES 1,200.