My wife and I rely on farming and selling charcoal to support our family, but the scarcity of tree stumps has affected our charcoal production and business. Despite these challenges, I strive to provide for our school-going children and meet their basic needs. The financial support from GiveDirectly has been a relief, especially in paying school fees for my children, lightening our financial burden. Looking ahead to the coming years, I aim to maximize my savings from the transfers, combined with earnings from casual jobs, to prepare for my son's junior secondary education in two years. I anticipate needing approximately $150 for his admission, and I'm optimistic that diligent saving will ensure we're ready when the time comes, easing the admission process.

My primary concerns revolve around investing in farming, paying school fees for my four children, and ensuring that there is enough food for consumption so that they don't go to school hungry. Before receiving support from Give Directly, I relied on income from farming and casual jobs, but the harvests were poor and the earnings from these jobs were insufficient to sustain my family, making life challenging. Now, with the support from GiveDirectly, I can meet my children's basic needs with greater ease. I allocated $60 towards paying fees for my four children, prioritizing their education. I believe that good education will pave the way for a better future for them, The remaining $42 I spent partly on buying food and partly on hiring farm labor. I am immensely grateful for the financial support provided by the transfers, it has played a crucial role in reducing my financial burden.

I sell charcoal, my wife finds tree stumps and makes charcoal which I sell. I do not make much since their is not much stumps left for burn for charcoal. This worries me as my children need to get an education. As I said I am expected to send $24 monthly to their schools to cover their school fees and that is where the cash transfers will come in. Now the we have sufficient food as we harvested but are low of finances for school which I hope the transfers will hep cover.

I have four school going children where am required to pay $24 a month for all of them. In July I spent $12 paying their school fees. I also in the same month got myself clothes at $8, toiletries at $200, and flour with oil at $4. In August I paid for my land to be tilled and I even added an amount to cover the $45 that was the charge of hiring the tractor. To beat the December rush I got clothes for my children in September at $45 where we merged cash with my wife to facilitate this expense.

I previously had livestock (goats) but unfortunately, they all died as a result of drought, but despite the mishaps, I did not give up. My goal is therefore to have as many livestock as possible, to achieve this, I therefore plan to spend my future transfers on buying livestock for rearing because I believe that they would be of great help to my family in the future when faced with financial challenges.

I was in dire need of money when I received my transfers; two of my children had been sent home for school fees and getting enough money to buy food was also a great challenge. My family had been relying on the income from the charcoal-selling business that I do, but with the prolonged rains in the area, the charcoal business had not been doing so great. Therefore the transfer that I received was of great help in terms of paying school fees for my children and also buying food for my family. I managed to spend $18 on school fees and $16.7 on food. With much support, I felt so relieved and happy because my children got another chance to be at school with the rest.

Being the sole breadwinner in a family of five has never been easy at all. However, this has never stopped me from taking my children to school, despite all the odds. Therefore, in the near future and beyond, I am hoping to save enough cash so that I can support my four children when they transition to high school. That has been my biggest wish—to see them finish high school and excel in life.

I am a father of four children, and all are school-going. Though I run a charcoal-selling business to support them, the income is always low. I have been struggling to pay their fees on time whenever I over-rely on the business proceeds. However, during the four months, transfers have played a significant role in my life. My most recent transfer helped me to acquire a new set of books for my four children; Katana, Eunice, Sanura, and Emmanuel. I spent $12 on new books and $14 for their school fees as soon as schools re-opened. The subsequent transfers helped us to obtain food and other household items such as soap. Consequently, the cost of living has not been as hard as before. It has supplemented my business of selling charcoal, and courtesy of the transfer, we have been living well.

I prioritized spending KES 1,800 on two iron sheets as soon as I received my recent transfer. I currently live in a dilapidated house with a leaky roof during the rainy season. This situation bothers me more frequently, even though I have yet to begin any construction process. To get out of the current situation, I will be buying building materials in bits before constructing a new house. Because my two children had fee arrears that I was unable to pay on time, I chose to use KES 1,000 to offset the arrears. As a result, I had peace of mind because they were able to comfortably focus on their studies for the remainder of the recently concluded term.

The economic hardships cause by lack of jobs has made it difficult for me to provide for my family. Thanks to the unconditional transfer from Give Directly, I can fulfill some of the essential needs, such as buying food. I would like the organization to increase the monthly stipend so that we can cope with the sharp increase of essential commodities such as food.

I have struggled to provide for my family from my unstable source of income. I am illiterate and this has contributed hugely to being unable to find a well-paying job. My charcoal making and selling business is currently on a downward streak cause by the low demand for the commodity. My children have spent the last three weeks at home after being sent home to pick school fee arrears. I have struggled to feed my family (wife and 6 children) and this forces us to survive on one meal a day and sometimes sleep on empty stomachs. Therefore, when I received my transfer, I spent KES 1200 in paying school fees arrears for my four children who are in primary school to enable them to resume their studies. I then spent the remaining KES 1800 on buying food for the family. Witnessing my children lie down in bed, groaning in pain, and their stomachs rumble hard because of hunger broke me down and made me helpless. Buying the food in bulk ensures that we have enough to eat for the next two weeks before working out other plans to buy more food.

I received a message at night when I was almost going to bed.Due to my illiteracy,I waited for my wife to read the message and translate for me. My wife was very excited and very happy to confirm that I had received funds from GiveDirectly.I felt elated and relieved at the same time, because I could finally take my youngest daughter to school.

Being able to take my daughter to school is the biggest difference in my life .I also think that with the continuous support program in the next five years will enable me to build a new house.I have been living in a one roomed thatched house ,which is leaking from the roof because of the termite infestation. Perhaps the most uncomfortable thing about living in this house is the spread of the termite that have started feeding on the foundation of the house making it bend on one side and would collapse any time.

I am a firm believer of education and I've been working hard as a charcoal burner to ensure that my children get the best education they need. However my flow of income is not consistent and it has been a struggle to provide for my family of seven members with the KES 400 that I get per day from my job. When I received my transfer we both agreed with my wife that education is our first priority. I spent KES 600 as admission fee and KES 600 to buy school uniform and a school for my daughter.She was the only child who had not joined school due to financial constraints. .