Secondary school fees are expensive, and I have two children in Form One. The initial year of high school incurs higher expenses than subsequent years. This year, my focus is on their tuition fees, with the cash transfers proving helpful and alleviating the burden on my husband as the breadwinner. Starting next year, I plan to invest in buying livestock and constructing a house for my children. I feel sharing a sauce with them is becoming inappropriate as time goes. It would be more convenient if they had a separate area as they grow older. Additionally, I aim to continue raising goats; presently, I have eight. As they reproduce, I intend to sell them in the future and purchase a cow.

My husband is the sole provider for our family, which includes our three school-going children. He does not have a stable source of income and depends on buying and selling charcoal, as well as selling beef door-to-door. Providing for essential needs like food proves challenging with this work. As his wife, I am grateful that cash transfers enable me to support him financially. From the recent funds, I spent $68 on the school needs of my two children, covering tuition fees, new school uniforms for my daughter who was joining Form One, books, and transportation to and from school. Seeing them attend school for the last two months has brought me immense joy, with cash transfers playing a crucial role in ensuring it. I also used $34 during the Christmas holidays to purchase celebratory foods, bringing happiness to my family.

As I said I do not make much and so I cannot plan for things that are beyond our daily needs such as food. My house, though it has three rooms accommodates 7 members. I have older children who I feel need their own place to stay. I am working on building another house which they can live in separate from me and my husband which will ensure their is some sort of privacy.

I am a charcoal seller, I burn old tree stumps for charcoal and normally I sell this to my neighbours and other local buyers. It takes about two weeks to make a full sack of charcoal and this can only make you about $5. My husband collects bones from butcheries to sell too. This also does not make much as sometimes he can make about $6 weekly. This is not sufficient to take care of our needs and cover our investment plan. I have bought goats in July and September at $30 and $15 respectively. I bought iron sheet in August and September for $22 and $11 respectively. I also paid school fees for my children, $4 in July, and $10 in August. I also bought some African Fabrics and paid for the tailoring of this.

I intend to acquire a minimum of five additional goats for investment purposes in the near future. Subsequently, my plan involves constructing a house for the well-being of my children. Presently, we reside in a one-room dwelling with my five children, consisting of three boys and two girls. The construction of this house will provide a sense of privacy and comfort for my children.

Using the June transfer I received from Givedirectly, I purchased a goat for $30, which joined the eight goats I already owned. This acquisition not only enhances our livelihood, but also provides a future source of income as we can sell them when the program concludes. The proceeds from their sale can be utilized to meet any unforeseen needs that may arise. The remaining portion of the transfer was used to buy food for my family.

The unconditional transfers I received from GiveDirectly are one thing that has enabled me to be where I am today. I was able to purchase ten chickens with the help of the monthly transfers and I am currently praying for them to hatch so that I can sell them and buy more goats. With the goats, I can sell them for more money and alter my family's entire economic structure. I am extremely grateful to GiveDirectly for everything.

I am a mother of six children.Three of my children are in primary school and one is in college. The only thing that gives me joy is seeing my children being in school working hard towards all their goals in life. The moment I received my transfers, the first thing that really came to my mind was paying my children's school fees. I took $10 and paid my children's school fees and $10 to the other two children in my boarding school. I bought two chickens for $10 so that they can hatch and I sell them to make profit. The remaining amount of $2 to stock food for my children who are at home and ensure they are eating well.

Givedirectly gives us this money with no strings attached which makes it easy for us to uplift and improve our lives without fear. It is God-sent.

I used $18 of the September transfer to purchase a goat(kid) that I plan to rear before selling it, $4.5 for two chickens, and bought two packs of maize flour at $4.5. I produce charcoal for a living and my husband takes it to the market. A sack costs $7.2 and within a week we sell three to four sacks. The money is spent on food. I have nineteen chickens and five goats that I rear at home both for domestic and commercial use. I sell them whenever I need money to pay school fees for my four children.

I was actually fetching firewood that evening when I noticed the arrival of the money and instantly I was filled with happiness because who would not be happy to receive money and also from the mere fact that is was completely unexpected.

In this instance I was really happy that I finally go to settle tuition for my kids because were it not for me receiving that money when I did, they would have probably stayed home for a couple of weeks which would have led to them lagging behind when it came to their education.

Unfortunately a day prior to arrival of the money my three children and actually being sent home due to the fact that I had failed to pay their tuition fee, but luckily for me and for them as well the following day the donateon came in and I ended up paying KES 1,100 for their tuition. I then proceeded to use KES 1,000 in buying iron sheets because I had planned to buildd a home for two of my teenage boys because our house was small and could barely fit all of us. I was left with about KES 900 which I ended up purchasing three packets of maize flour and cooking oil with since there was no food left in the house.