I moved to the city in search of better opportunities. After gaining experience working as a cook and attendant at a local food kiosk, I decided to leave and open my own small restaurant. I hired a woman to assist me, and through this work, I've discovered my passion for the food business, encouraged by how much customers enjoy the food and urge me to keep going. This decision has allowed me to earn more compared to my previous job. I have two children whom I left in my mother’s care, and now I can provide for their basic needs with much more ease than before. I no longer struggle as I used to in raising money to support them. In the coming year and beyond, I plan to use my transfers to boost my business by adding more menu items and resources like utensils and seating to comfortably accommodate my customers. This will help me increase my income, save, and invest in other projects, like eventually buying a house, as I currently don’t own one.

I used my recent transfer to buy $30 worth of food for my family. Since we’re experiencing drought, any income we get goes mainly toward food and water, as these are our top priorities. I also have two school-going children, so I purchased a few clothes and a pair of shoes for each of them, totaling $15. Additionally, I spent $4 on getting my hair done to look presentable. We have a savings group, so I contributed $10 to it. I also bought two chickens for $10 to add to my poultry project. With the remaining funds, I purchased one goat for $15 and used the last $5 to pay off part of a loan I took to buy a phone on installment.

I moved in the city for search of greener pastures. I was able to secure work as a cook and attendant at a local food Kiosk here. Through this work I have discovered my passion for the food business by seeing how clients enjoy the food and their encouragement for me to open a spot of my own to ensure we meet most of their food requests that we are currently unable to working for my employer. Through my transfers that I have saved in a local savings group I plan to use the $190 that I anticipate I will be receiving in August to start purchase of the necessary things and then start the business. This move will allow me to earn more as I now earn $2 per day and running my own business will allow me to make up to $5 on a bad day and $10 in profit daily. This will give me more muscle to feed my children and educate them.

As a sing;e mother I am the sole breadwinner of my children and this means I have, in most times, to push myself to ensure my kids are well taken care of. Being a beneficiary of Givedirectly transfers have allowed me to do this. I recently moved to the city to try and improve life for my family and so my children were left behind with my Mother. I sent her $29 to ensure the children never go a day without food. I also paid for their school fees at $10 as well as by them some clothes at $7. Moving to town meant getting a phone that would allow me look for work and I took a smart phone on loan from some sellers to whom I pay 77 cents daily to ensure the phone's ownership becomes mine at long last. The transfers allowed me to reduce this debt by $13. I saved $10 to my local savings group and also bought a kid goat at $20.

My aim is to purchase livestock, particularly goats and chickens so that I can rear them alongside my food kiosk business. I believe that they will provide an additional source of income for me. Currently, I own three goats and more than 18 birds, and my goal is to keep them and allow them to reproduce. I can then sell them to cater for my financial needs. Even when my children advance their education, I will not struggle to raise their fees, as I can comfortably sell the livestock to meet their education expenses. I am also planning to build my own house in the next year or so to live with my two young children. I am currently living in my parent's house despite having my own family.

I am a single parent of two at the age of 25 and I never imagined that my life would take a new turn after going through a lot of challenges raising my kids alone. Before then, I was employed in a restaurant where I was earning a meagre income. I decided to start my own food kiosk as a way out of my financial struggles. However, this meant going back to live with my parents, which I was not comfortable with as I didn't want to depend on them for everything. From mid-last year, I resolved to save my income in order to open a food kiosk in Mombasa. I was motivated by the fact that in Mombasa, I could easily access many customers. I am grateful to GiveDirectly because with the money that I managed to save, I was able to start the food kiosk, and thankfully, it picked up so much more than I expected. So far, I have been using the profits from the business to buy more stock of foodstuffs and restock my shop. On the recent transfers, I spent about $60 to restock the business. Through this shop, my children are comfortably in school, and I am now supporting my parents and siblings too. Besides restocking my shop, I also acquired a goat and three chickens for $30. I now own over 18 birds and three goats, which I can also fall back on in case of a financial need. I paid school fees for my two children on the amount that remained, and they are now comfortably in school.

As I look ahead to the coming year and beyond, my heart is set on establishing my own hotel business. Despite being employed, the salary I earn falls short of meeting my aspirations and financial goals. Therefore, I've set my sights on becoming my own boss, creating a venture that not only sustains me financially but also allows me to harness my passion for hospitality. The dream of running a successful hotel and reaping substantial profits propels me forward. With careful planning and dedication, next year marks the beginning of my journey as an entrepreneur, determined to carve out a prosperous path and achieve the independence I seek.

The recent unconditional cash transfer brought a wave of possibilities into my life. I decided to invest $10 in our local merry-go-round savings group in the village. This move is a step towards realizing my dream of starting a hotel business in January next year. Currently working as a waitress, earning just $2 a day, I knew I needed to take this chance to secure a better future. Being single since my divorce three years ago, sustaining my needs on such a meager income has been a struggle. The idea of having my own hotel not only excites me but also promises the financial stability that I've been yearning for. Another portion of the money, $10, was wisely used to hire a friend and prepare my one-acre farm. This decision comes from lessons learned in the past; cultivating a larger area means a more bountiful harvest. It brings a sense of joy and relief to think about the upcoming season, knowing that I'll have plenty to harvest and sell. Finally, with the remaining funds, I treated myself to new clothes for the fast-approaching Christmas celebration. As I look forward to the festivities, there's a newfound sense of dignity and happiness in being able to dress well and enjoy the holiday season, unlike before.

I started my food business to make ends meet and I see it is a good business since their is always someone looking for food. It is still small but my hope is to make it grow beyond the stall I have. I am makings savings from any money I get to increase my savings in my savings group to allow me reinvest in the business. I also would like to start a business for my mother in the village to help her make something to use to take care of my children and my siblings.

I moved to Mombasa to try and get some income as my children depend on me. I separated with my husband some time back and my children now stay with my mother. I need to be able to plan my finances to take care of them. My mother like many at home was planting in April and I sent her $30 to pay for our land to be prepared for planting. The land was also dug after planting to weed out the weeds that grew over the month and in May I sent $25. I added $5 to my business from my April transfers. In May I got some clothes at $4 and saved $5 to my informal savings group. In the month of June I spent $15 on food,$wo adding to my business and saved $5 to my informal savings group. I still have $4 left to be used for any emergencies that come up.

I have a small roadside food spot where I sell porridge, fried potatoes and foods of different kinds. I started my business using my third and fourth GD transfers. I have now acquired a shop where I am selling this food. It has grown exponentially and this is something I am happy about. I would want this roadside food spot to grow to a a point where I am selling the things that my customers ask for. I am now able to cook maize meal, cereals which I did not sell earlier. My plan is to continue saving in my savings merry go round group so that when have a sufficient amount I can ask for a loan which I will use to buy more things for the business so that it can be known far and wide and I can get customers from all over.

In December I sent $10 for food to my mother and $5 for my merry go round group which I am in. In January I bought three chicken each at $2.5, I bought shoes at $2.5, I sent $5 for my merry go round group, I sent my mother $10 for food and water and left $9 for emergencies. In February I had $2 left from the emergency amount I used $28 to buy a goat and paid my merry go round for $5 and the rest I sent to my mother for food. I have to give my monthly contribution to my merry go round group to ensure I am growing my savings and also have some emergency money as my mother may have a need that I may be unable to meet without the savings.

The day that I received the funds I was actually very happy about it and I felt like a huge burden had been lifted off my shoulders especially because I was struggling financially. Immediately I got the chance to withdraw the funds, I decided to send my mother KES 1, 000 because she had a debt to pay after she went and took money on loan so that she could have some food. Apart from settling the debt, I proceeded to spend another 1,000 on starting my cooking business with the hope that it would help me cater for my day to day needs from the profit. I still have a balance of KES 1,400 left on me which I haven't used but I intend to use it in case I run low on the supplies for my business.

I am grateful that the organization is helping the needy in society. The funds have offered me an opportunity to turn around the poverty situation I am currently in. I recommend that the organization enrolls more people in poverty-stricken villages.

I quit my job selling potatoes two months ago because I did not have enough money to buy more stock. I am a single parent with two children who fully depend on me. My main focus after being enrolled in the program was to save the money for both my first and second transfer and use it to start a business. In total, I saved KES 4200 which I plan on buying vegetable stock for sale. My major challenge was finding a suitable location to set up the business. All the plans are set and I am looking forward to starting the business and becoming financially stable.

I cannot adequately express how overjoyed I was when I got the transfer. I knew I would be able to restart my porridge-selling business and start raising chickens as an additional source of income.

Prior to the transfers, all I had was an ambition of raising chickens but lacked the finances to make it a success. This desire is becoming a reality now that I have received the funds, as I expect to purchase two chicks within the next week as a starting point.

I rely on selling porridge at the bus station for a living. The returns from this business leaves me with at most KES 60 profit per day, which barely puts food on the table daily. I am occasionally prompted to dip into my stock money to satisfy my home necessities, which lowers the returns. In fact, I had shut down the business due to a lack of finances one week before the transfers arrived. As an additional source of income, I was motivated to start a chicken-rearing operation that will provide revenue long after the cash assistance program has ended. So, I intend to spend KES 500 on two hens and allow them to procreate into a larger flock in order to enhance the size of my flock. I will spend KES 300 on reviving the porridge-selling business and the rest on food to ensure we will not go hungry.