Looking ahead, my primary goal is to continue supporting my children’s education by using a portion of the transfers to keep up with their school fees, ensuring they receive the best possible education without interruptions. I also plan to expand our livestock. I aim to grow a sizeable herd of goats, which will serve as a safety net in case of emergencies. To work towards this, I recently purchased two hens, which have already hatched 21 chicks. Once these chicks mature, I plan to sell them and use the money to buy more goats. This is a simple yet effective plan to help me achieve my goal of building up our livestock. I am deeply thankful for the financial support, which is empowering me to work towards a more secure and promising future for my family.

I have two sons in secondary school and four younger children in primary school, all of whom need significant amounts of money for school fees to keep them in class and focused on their education without disruptions. My husband and I do our best to make ends meet, but it’s challenging because neither of us has a stable income. I sell charcoal and raise livestock, while my husband buys and sells livestock at the market during market days. The financial support from GiveDirectly has been a lifeline for us, making it possible to keep our children in school. Recently, I used $60 to pay the fees for my two children in secondary school, which ensured they stayed in class without being sent home. I also spent $30 to clear the outstanding school fees for my four primary school children, who had been sent home because of arrears. Seeing them back in school, continuing with their education without any hitches, brought me immense relief. With the remaining $12, I bought food for my family, making sure my younger children had something to eat when they returned from school for lunch. I’m truly grateful for this financial assistance, which has eased the burden of financing my children’s education.

In the coming year and beyond, I dream of starting a successful goat farming project with my husband. We've talked about it often, imagining the possibilities and the security it could bring to our family. Currently, we have six goats and five sheep, but I envision expanding our herd significantly. Once my husband manages some funds from his casual job, we plan to invest in more goats. With careful planning and dedication, I hope to see our small goat farming project grow into a thriving project. This will grant us secure a better future for our children, ensuring they have opportunities we never had.

I am a housewife with six school-going children, and I rely on my husband, who works casual jobs, though his employment is unpredictable. Out of the last three transfers, which totaled $102, I spent $60 to pay school fees for my two secondary school children. Education is critical to us, and we believe investing in it will give our children a better future. With this in mind, my husband and I planned to prioritize their schooling. As both of us are beneficiaries of GiveDirectly, we decided to allocate our funds wisely. Every month, we each contribute $20 specifically for the secondary school fees, ensuring children can continue their studies without interruptions. The remaining $42 covered the school fees for our four primary school children. We understand the importance of a smooth educational journey right from the start, so we also contribute $14 each month to pay for their primary school education. This careful planning allows us to ensure that all our children have the opportunity to learn and grow academically. By working together and dedicating our resources to their education, we hope to provide them with a brighter future, free from the struggles we face.

I sincerely pray that my husband's livestock trading business picks up so that he can generate more profits to sustain the needs of our six children, particularly school fees. Of late, he can come from the market having sold nothing. As a result, this has put a strain on the cash transfers that we receive as we mostly spend them on school fees. I am confident that if he makes more sales, he will be able to afford tuition for the children. As such, it will provide me a chance to spend the transfers on something else, and that thing is buying goats. Now owning eight goats, I wish to increase the herd to 20. In the future, after the transfers stop, this livestock will significantly assist me in paying the school fees for my children.

I have two children in secondary school, and there were outstanding debts from the previous year. Their fees are supposed to be $250 per term per child. Additionally, we have four other children in primary school who also had pending balances from the previous year. Since my husband and I struggled to raise funds, I contributed $68 towards settling the fees. Although my husband is the main provider, he lacks a stable source of income and engages in livestock trading, which can be unpredictable. I stay at home and take care of the children, and as such, I solely depend on my spouse and now the cash transfers to provide for the family. We always look forward to receiving the cash transfers to keep our children in school, and I am happy that they have rarely missed their studies. Even the teachers are aware of that fact and eagerly anticipate that we can pay when we receive the cash transfers. I also spent $34 to purchase clothes for my five children that they could wear on Christmas as this is our holiday tradition.

My ultimate goal is to start a livestock rearing venture, with a particular emphasis on raising goats. This project is deeply meaningful to me because it's an investment that will enable me to provide a quality education for my children. I intend to use funds from my other transfers to achieve this objective. I am genuinely grateful to GiveDirectly for affording me the opportunity to transform my life and that of my family.

My job involves selling pastries in my village, but business has been challenging in recent years. My husband works as a casual laborer, and our combined incomes are insufficient to support our family of nine. Providing food and paying school fees used to be a significant challenge, but our situation improved when we began receiving transfers. I am delighted that all seven of my children are currently attending school, as my husband and I combine these transfers to cover their fees, ensuring they remain in school. Out of these transfers, I allocated $88 to pay a longstanding school fee debt, and I'm relieved to report that it's nearly settled. The remaining $24 was used to purchase new school uniforms since their existing ones were old and worn. GiveDirectly has been a beacon of hope for my family, and I can't express enough gratitude for the positive impact it has had on our lives.

My greatest sense of accomplishment would be to support the education of all my five children until they reach the university level. I firmly believe that education is the key to lifting our family out of struggles and alleviating the burden on their father, who works tirelessly to provide for us. I know that my husband's income from selling livestock alone would not be enough to finance our children's studies. However, with the assistance of the monthly cash transfers, I envision a future where my children can pursue their education successfully. It is through education that they will have greater opportunities and help improve our family's overall well-being.

Since I began receiving the cash transfers, my top priority has been to support the education of my five children. Thanks to the previous cash transfers, one of my children completed primary school and recently enrolled in high school, bringing me so immense joy. However, each educational milestone also brings additional costs that my husband and I would struggle to afford with our current means. His income from buying and selling livestock is unpredictable and insufficient to meet all our household needs. Fortunately, the monthly cash transfers have allowed me to contribute towards these expenses, particularly the tuition fees for my children's education. In the recent transfer, I used the entire amount of $34 to reduce the outstanding school fee debts for our two high school children and one primary school child. I am grateful that since the cash aid started, my children have never missed a day of school. In fact, the school administrations, aware of the monthly cash transfers, have developed trust in my ability to consistently pay the tuition fees, allowing my children to continue their education uninterrupted.

For the past three years, we have constantly been experiencing famine that ravages our county as a result of prolonged drought. Such a phenomenon has always deprived us of an opportunity to cultivate our farms because of the possible loss of our crops to drought. Therefore, as I continue to receive my transfer, my primary goal is to spend them on paying my Said's school fees. I also long to spend part of it to acquire food owing to the current food shortage in the country.

Both my husband nor I do not have a job or other alternative sources of income. From the time we got enrolled in GiveDirectly's program, we have been relying on the transfers to meet the educational and nutritional needs of my family. The transfers are always insufficient since I have a large family of ten members. When I received my recent transfer, I paid school fees for my son, Said. He is in form two now. He had fee arrears of $40 then. I am glad that now, he is progressing well with his studies.

I used all of my transfer money to pay my son's secondary school tuition, who is in first grade. My son was kicked out of school three days prior to receiving my transfer because of a $40 school fee arrear. I partially settled the debt as soon as I got my transfer, allowing him to return to school and carry on with his studies. I struggle to pay his tuition because I make so little money from my vegetable business. Due to the drought, which has killed a lot of livestock and decreased prices, my husband also faces difficulties in his business selling livestock to other people. As a result, he receives a meager commission. I have four other children in primary school, in addition to my son, and they all have large unpaid school fee balances that I am unable to pay on time. I have faith that the transfer will assist in covering all of their tuition costs.

I'm so happy that through the funds I acquire from the organisation I have been able to keep my children in school especially since before getting enrolled it was common for them to get kicked out of school and stay home for weeks. It makes me happy as a parent that I keep my children in school and I see my children happy as well. Therefore GiveDirectly is doing an honorable job if you ask me.

My children just resumed for school after being on holiday for close to a month. I had intended on paying school fees as soon as they resumed but unfortunately I had no funds so I sent them to school and promised the teachers that I would start paying as soon as I got money. Luckily GiveDirectly eventually sent me the transfers and so I payed tuition fee of KES 2,000 for four of my children as I promised to the school administration to clear the debt gradually. Then I used the KES 1,000 I was left with and decided to purchase half a dozen of packets of maize flour for KES 810 and use the change left to buy sugar and tea leaves.

Before receiving the transfers I had a gone hungry for about two days. I felt depressed as a parent because seeing my kids hungry made me feel helpless. The money came in quite late in the evening but I was very glad that GiveDirectly came through for me as promised. I totally did not expect it.

Through the funds I managed to cater for some of the most basic necessities for my family. My children fi ally got new school uniform and shoes which made them very happy and they had food on the table which was most important.

Since school were just about to resume from the holidays, when I received the money I decided to purchase new school uniform for my kids because the previous ones they owned were old and torn because I never had enough money to get the new ones and took this as an opportunity to do so. I used KES 1,000 and bought uniform for my two children. I then went ahead and bought a bag of maize flour that contained a dozen packets for KES 1,500 because there was barely any food in the house and yet I has kids to look after as well. After that I took the balance I was left with and bought two pairs of shoes for my children then used the remaining KES 200 and bought laundry detergent.