As a mother, I strongly believe in investing in the future of my children. Currently, I earn income by burning and selling charcoal. I currently have six goats, and my goal is to expand my herd to twenty-five. I am committed to saving enough from my work and also from my transfers in order to achieve this goal. I want to invest in goats so that whenever my children are sent home from school, I can easily sell them and be able to pay their school fees without any difficulties.

As a mother of four children, with three currently attending school, I aimed to ensure their happiness as the festive season approached. Investing $20 in clothing made them feel their best, while $18 spent on food brought us joy and created memorable holiday moments. Currently, I care for six goats, which provide comfort with their resilience during long droughts and the ease of tending to them. I recently acquired an additional goat for $49, bringing the total to six. Alongside purchasing two chickens for $15, I now have nine chickens, symbolizing hope and prosperity for the future.

I have three school going children while one is still at home. I would love for them to get an education and that means I need to be financially able take care of this. I am buying goats since they are fast at reproducing, I have also gotten chicken from previous transfers. I however prefer goats as they are resilient to the weather and disease and that means I will not loose them even during the drought season or loose them to disease. This goats will multiply and allow me to make money to educate my children.

My husband and I make an income by digging up tree stumps and burning charcoal. We would averagely make $20 a week from this endeavour which was not usually sufficient to sort out all our familial needs. We are so thankful that Givedirectly came in and gave us these transfers which allowed us to access basic needs like food during the drought season and pay school fees. We were fortunate enough to farm and had harvested by August and so we were able to use our money to invest. We bought a goat in August and September at $25. We were also able to pay school fees for two of our children in August at $9 while in October we paid $15 school fees for all the three school going children to ensure they could undertake their exams. I also bought uniform worth $15 in October.

I desire to have my children go through school. I burn and sell charcoal and I have seen the business dwindle over the years since most of the tree cover is gone people stopped harvesting dead trees only the also use good trees and that means its a business that is hurting us. I wouldn't want my children to venture in this. I want them to have better options and so I believe a good education could be that for the, I want to accumulate enough animals and allow then, to reproduce and use them to get them through school that even when the project comes to an end I can still stand on my own.

The transfers came in during the beginning of the rains and it was tilling season. I spent $25 to have a portion of my land prepared for planting before the soil got heavy and it would be difficult to till. I then spent the $9 left in April to buy flour for my family. I spent $15 for paying school fees in May for my children, I split this to $5 for each of them. I also bought food worth $19. In June I bought a goat and chicken for $18 and $3 respectively and I also spent $13 on food.

I currently have three school-going children with my eldest child in grade 4. In the next two years, he would be required to join junior high school and I know that without prior planning, paying for his school fees would be a great challenge. Therefore my goal is to ensure that he continues with his studies without interference and therefore I want to ensure that every month, I purchase a goat and have as a many as possible so that when the time comes, I would sell them and get enough money to take him to school.

I deceived the transfers at a time when I was in dire need of money. My children had been sent home home for school fees but I did nit have any money to take them back to school. Luckily, I received the transfers and managed to pay school fees worth KES. 1500. I also bought food for my family worth KES. 1000 since it had also become a great challenge to get due to the lack of money. With the remaining amount of KES. 970, I managed to purchase 3 chicken because I also want to start a chicken rearing project that would one day be of great help to my family.

My husband and I both undertake temporary jobs, and we make our living by selling charcoal. Considering how little money we make from the business, it is not profitable. The most we can make per bag is $3.50 on a good day, and the least we can make is nothing. The process of making charcoal is very laborious and takes too long (typically 3-5 days). We are compelled to purchase food on credit while we wait for the charcoal, resulting in significant loans and debts. Even worse, we don't eat before bed because we don't have the money to do so. I therefore spent a significant portion of my transfer on food purchases totaling $16. Purchasing the food relieved my husband and I of the burden of trying to find food, which has grown more challenging as a result of the meager sales we generate from selling charcoal. In addition to purchasing food, I spent $12 on my four childrens' school fees at Bengoni Primary School to keep them from being dismissed. I'm relieved that I paid for their tuition so that they can start the upcoming school year on a clean slate.

In my sincere opinion, GiveDirectly has done so well in ensuring that all adults above 18 years with the national identity card are enrolled in the program. Consequently, families that were at first struggling to take their children to school have found it easy to use the transfer to educate their young ones. A number of the children who had given up due to lack of fees have been re-enrolled and a bigger proportion is back to school. Bearing in mind the relief that comes with the direct cash transfer, I would request if the organization can make the transfer continuous instead of a limited period of 5 years.

For survival, I rely heavily on charcoal burning. This is strenuous work with low pay. I rarely make enough money from this to pay my children's school fees. As a result, their fees accumulate, and they are occasionally sent home for fee collection. I spent KES 1,000 on reducing their fee arrears as soon as I received my transfer. I also spent KES1,000 on two hens because I didn't have any and had always wanted to raise some. This will benefit me in the long run as they reproduce and multiply. Finally, I purchased food for KES 1,000, and we have not missed a meal since then, unlike the previous week when we had no option but to forgo common meals.

The transfer came at a critical juncture in my life, when my family had run out of food and my children were absent from school due to unpaid school fees. When Give Directly sent the money as promised, I felt relieved. I am still grateful for the kind gesture made by the organization that day.

Seeing my children miss classes because I could not afford to pay their school fees broke my heart. The transfer helped in settling the outstanding balance, and they resumed their studies. This is the greatest achievement. Am glad that they have an opportunity to sit for their end-of-term examinations, thanks to Give Directly.

Burning charcoal is my only means of livelihood. I usually rely on a vendor in town to sell the charcoal on my behalf. However, due to low demand, it may take him a month to sell two sacks of charcoal, which will only generate KES 1,200. This income is extremely unreliable in meeting my family's needs. In fact, my family had run out of food three days before the transfers arrived. In addition, my children had missed three days of school due to unpaid school fees. To resolve this, I paid KES 600 to the school, and they resumed classes. I used the remaining funds to buy food to ease the hunger situation.