In the coming year and beyond, I plan to focus on building a better house for my family. I also want to boost my wife’s business, as it plays a crucial role in providing food for our family while I focus on other responsibilities. My current house is made of mud, and the walls have become weak over time. It is risky to stay there, as we fear it could collapse during a heavy downpour or strong winds. Unfortunately, we do not have an alternative at the moment, so we continue to live there. To achieve this goal, I plan to use part of my daily income from my motorbike taxi business, combined with my GiveDirectly income, to buy building materials. This time, I want to build a solid house with stone walls, as stones are easily accessible in our area. Once the house is complete, I will focus on expanding my wife’s business by adding more items and increasing the quantity of existing goods, ensuring she has enough stock to attract more customers.

I want to express my gratitude to GiveDirectly for the financial support. Through these transfers, I was able to acquire a motorbike, which I now use to earn a living and support my family. With my most recent transfer, I spent $61 on school fees for my five school-going children. I divided the amount among them to ensure they are not sent home due to unpaid fees. I also allocated $41 to purchase food for my family’s consumption. The ongoing drought has made food and water our primary focus, as the little income we earn is mostly spent on these essential needs. This support has been a lifeline for my family during these challenging times.

I am now a full fledged owner of my Motorcycle. I have now finished making payments for my motorcycle which ensures that now my earnings will be mine. My wife were also jobless and I was also able to start for her a small grocery stall selling cooked and raw food. Now that I will no longer be making payments for this motorcycle I plan to divert my income to expand her stall so she is able to earn more from it. I also want to buy some few animals to be an emergency fund for us.

I bought a motorcycle at higher purchase in the year 2021, I was looking for an alternative source of income as I was a casual worker at the time and Covid-19 has really taken a toll on all forms of work. I was required to pay $32 weekly to ensure it was not repossessed. I just made my last payment last month using my transfers at $32. I was also able to make payments for school fees for my five children at $68.

With five children attending school, I've been thinking a lot about our future. One thing that keeps coming to mind is the idea of buying goats. With the monthly transfers I receive, I hope to invest in these animals, seeing them as valuable assets for emergencies. Moreover, as my children progress in their education, having a herd of goats could provide me with ongoing support, especially considering the uncertainty of my job. I believe that by securing this asset, I'm not just safeguarding our immediate needs but also laying the foundation for a brighter future for my children and the generations to come. It's a small step, but I'm hopeful it will make a big difference in our lives.

I have five children who are currently in school, one in secondary and the other four in primary. The burden of their school fees often loomed heavily as I relied on a modest income from a motorcycle job. Upon receiving the unconditional cash transfers, I knew exactly where the priority lay. Nearly $60 went towards ensuring their education continued uninterrupted, lifting a weight off my shoulders that had plagued me for years. With their fees settled, I could breathe a sigh of relief, knowing their future was secure. Yet, amidst the joy of securing their education, another challenge arose. My father's declining health demanded urgent attention, and with the transfers, I could afford to provide him with the medical care he needed. Devoting $20 to his treatment was a decision made with love and gratitude. Now, as he embarks on his recovery journey, I'm filled with immense gratitude for the support that allowed me to tend to my family's needs. With the remaining $22, I ensured my home was filled with an abundance of food, nourishing us back to health. This journey has been one of struggle and resilience, but with the help of the organization, I have emerged stronger and hopeful for the future.

The world has dynamically changed and this is something me and my wife recognize. We would never have had a change to think of a life different than what we have for our children without the Givedirectly transfers. Being without any papers, before, would not have prevent you from getting opportunities, but now you cannot navigate the world without this papers. I would want for my children to get a proper education and even get all the way to college hence my many efforts to ensure my oldest joined secondary school. I am hoping to spend the rest of my years transfers on my children's education to allow them have a chance to navigate the world.

A sigh of relief is what the presence of Givedirectly has been in our life as a family. am a father of six with 5 school going children. I make my living by providing motorcycle rides while my wife has a grocery stall next to home from where she makes an income. My oldest is 15 and finished her primary school education as 2022 ended. We had left some debt in the school which was due to financial strains were were going through and we could only get her results to ensure she joined secondary is we cleared that debt. I paid $20 to clear that debt and once it was settled I was able to think about taking her to school in January. I bought some of the school provisions such as shoes and a bag at $14 in November to ensure she had some essentials as she went to school in January. My wife and I combined our transfers and paid $50 for the child to start her form one as the year began. In December all my children wanted clothes for the holidays, we again combine our entire transfers with my wife and bought clothes for all the sic children.

I have a goal to build a new two-room house. Right now, my wife, six children, and I all share a cramped two-room space. As the kids grow, they need separate rooms for boys and girls, which our current house cannot provide. It is also a challenge when we have guests because there is no separate space for them. Having another two-room house would ensure everyone has enough space. The children could stay in the current structure, while my wife and visitors could use the new one. To do this, I estimated that I would need at least $600 for a mud-walled house with an iron sheet roof and concrete skirting. Depending on my motorcycle taxi business might make it a challenge to get that money all at once, especially with rising fuel prices and fewer customers due to higher prices. However, I believe that with the cash transfers and my income combined, I can make this happen.

Thanks to Give Directly, I managed to use most of my initial cash transfers to buy a motorcycle, which I now use for my taxi business. It helps me transport passengers around my area. Although the funds could not cover the full cost, I got it on credit and have to pay a fixed amount each month. It is now my main source of income, that enables me to provide for my wife and three kids with food and school fees. I am also so relieved that the monthly cash transfers help me pay off the motorcycle loan; I put $10 toward it each month. Thankfully, I have not had any issues with the lending company, and my business is running smoothly, even though the income is low. Also, I usually use another $20 for my four children's monthly school fees, making sure their education is not interrupted. The remaining $4 goes toward food or toiletries, depending on what is needed most at a particular time.

I have a family of six, and with the growing population and the two-roomed house that I currently live in is getting smaller. My goal, therefore, is to build another house for my wife and I and leave the current one to my children so that we could get enough space. In case I am done paying the debts, I would channel all the income I get from the motorbike to my house construction.

I received the transfers at a time when I was in dire need of money. I bought a motorcycle that I am currently operating on credit and I have been paying it on a weekly basis for the last few months, but there was a certain amount that was still pending. My plan was to complete payments by mid-August. Therefore with the transfers that I received, I managed to take part of it amounting to $15 and paid part of the pending balance, paid $15 in school for my 3 children who had been sent home for school fees and bought food with the remaining amount of $4. GiveDirectly had been of great help and I would forever remain grateful.

I took a motorcycle on credit which I am currently using it to provide taxi services at a fee, and its my only source of income. I could be jobless if I did not have this motorbike. I have five children in school and all are depending on me for their basic needs and school fees. I currently do not have a new goal besides paying for the monthly installments for the motorbike through the transfer. It has been useful to me because I can now put food on the table, and my children are comfortably in school. I'm remaining with around Ksh.60000, once I complete this loan, then I will be able look for other investment opportunities.

I obtained a loan and used it to purchase a motorcycle to have a steady source of income. I have been servicing the loan but I have not paid it off yet. I have, however, been able to support my family courtesy of the motorcycle taxi. I spent $20 on paying off a portion of that loan from the recent transfer. The additional $10 helped in settling part of my three school-going children's tuition fees. I, therefore, know that I will not be burdened when schools resume, except for raising tuition for the upcoming term. The remaining $4 enabled me to buy food for a family of seven. My wife and I would like to express our sincere gratitude to GiveDirectly.

I really appreciate the donations that I receive from the Organization and this is because it is helping me come closer to clearing my debt way faster. The money is quite helpful especially because I have other responsibilities as well and the little money I make would not have been enough to cater for all the needs of my family and settling the debt.

At the beginning of the year I decided to purchase a bike on loan with the agreement that I would settle the debt gradually as time went by. I currently use this motorcycle as a way of earning money where I transport goods and people for a certain fee but I still have a debt. Therefore when I received this money I ended up using KES 500 to settle a part of the debt. I proceeded to use another KES 500 to pay for my daughters tuition because a day before receiving the money she had been sent home. As for what remained which was a balance of KES 2,000 I decided to buy eight packets of maize flour,cooking oil, groceries and salt as well because having a meal was challenging at times.

On reading the message and confirming that it was from GiveDirectly, I was happy and thankful. It was around 5:00 PM when I got the news of the receipt of the first transfer. I had just dropped off a customer after a 30 minutes ride. I had to go back home immediately and conveyed the news to my family who was excited too.

The biggest difference in my daily life is the fact that I was not charged an extra amount for late payment of the credit. Had I not received the transfer, the credit company would have added a charge to what I am supposed to pay, which would have been another cost considering that I had difficulty paying the initial cost.

I have a motorcycle that I bought one year ago on credit. I am required to make weekly repayments of KES 2508 for the same and by the time I was receiving the transfer, I had KES 1100 less than the total amount needed. Therefore, I took that amount from the transfer and made the payments. I am glad the transfer came on time because had I not made the payment on time then I would have been fined some money.