I am a widow with school-going children. Life was very tough before GiveDirectly since I had to find ways to support my children all on my own after my husband passed away. I have always valued my children's education, which is why I used a major part of my transfer to pay their school fees. I don't want them to be sent home for fee balances. Time is moving fast, and because of this, I have been thinking of a project that will provide me with income in the future. I want to focus on goat keeping in the coming years. My ultimate goal is to invest in cattle rearing mainly for land cultivation, which is why I am starting small with rearing goats. Once I have a good number of goats, I will sell them and use the money to buy a cow. While taking care of my school-going children, I plan to hire out these cows for land cultivation to earn income to support my family. I am very optimistic about achieving this goal, as I have already started saving in our merry-go-round group for this project.

I am grateful for the financial support from GiveDirectly, as it has greatly helped me provide for my family. I know that these transfers will eventually come to an end, so I have started investing in a project that will sustain us in the future. With my most recent transfer, I spent $15 to buy a female goat, which I hope will multiply and act as a source of future financial security. I also purchased $38 worth of food, as we didn't have enough for the family. With three school-going children, I used part of the money to pay their school fees because I believe education is crucial for their future. I want them to have a better opportunity to focus on their studies. The financial support has been a great relief, especially since I am a casual laborer. Life wasn't easy before, and the income was insufficient to support my children as it does now.

I am a mother of four children. I currently burn and sell charcoal. I want to invest in goats as I currently have six but by the end of this year, will make sure I get to ten and later exchange them for cows.I also have two chicken and I believe when they hatch they can easily multiply and I can also sell them when faced with financial challenge and also when my children are chased out of school, I can easily sell them as well and take them back to school. My joy is to see my children well educated and achieve their goals in life.

I currently have five goats, with the transfers, I purchased three goats at $75 that really made me happy. I made a promise to myself to be purchasing one goat each month as I plan to invest in goats so that when I face financial constraints, I can easily sell them to educate my children. I currently have two children who are in primary school and I spent $27 to clear their school fees balances. They were chased out of school and I had no option but to go pay their fees so that they can continue with their studies.

I wish that all my children could go through school to the end and though my oldest dropped out I hope to ensure that the younger ones will not be lost. My plan is to spend my transfers educating my children. I would want for each of them to finish their primary and Secondary school. I also want to invest in a few animals which I plan to rear and I can sell them in times of need especially with school.

I lost my husband to a dog bite some years back, It was a painful experience as the burden of taking care of my four children was transfered to me. I make and sell charcoal, I make about $10 on a good month, this meant that I was struggling to take care of all my families needs and my children's education is what suffered the most. My oldest dropped out of school and has never gone back. The situation was bad until Givedirectly came to my rescue. I was recently able to get my second born to form one something I thought was impossible, I pooled cash from my December and January transfers which was $50 total together with the sell of goat I got the child into form one. My youngest two are also in school now as I used $30 from my February transfers to buy uniform and pay school fees. I have also put food on my family's table thanks to the transfers. I spent $18 on food over the past three months.

My ultimate goal is to raise livestock like goats. Once they have multiplied and grown to at least nine goats, I plan to exchange some of them for cows. I aspire to have at least two bulls for plowing on my farm. Currently, I plow the land by hand, which yields limited crops. With bulls, I'm confident that I can cover a larger portion of the land and harvest more produce than I did recently.

With the funds from the last three cash transfers, I paid $45 in school fees for my three children. There was a lingering debt from the previous month, and I'm relieved that I could clear it because my children were frequently sent home from school. I rely on charcoal burning as a source of income to support my family. However, I only make about $10 a month from this, which is insufficient to meet all our household needs. I also used $4 to purchase school shorts for one of my children, as he had been wearing casual shorts to school, which wasn't allowed. Also, I allocated $30 to buy two goats to raise them. By having goats and allowing them to reproduce, I hope to accumulate enough wealth to support my children's education even after the cash transfers come to an end. The remaining amount from all three cash transfers was used to buy food, ensuring that my children had enough to eat as they balanced between school and home.

I currently have three goats and with the aim of securing my children's education, I have set my sights on acquiring four to five goats to keep at home. This strategic decision will enable me to overcome any unforeseen circumstances, such as my children being sent home from school due to unpaid fees. By selling a goat or two when the need arises, I can swiftly fulfill their educational obligations and ensure their uninterrupted learning journey. Through careful planning and foresight, I am taking proactive steps to guarantee a bright future for my children.

As a determined widow raising five children, I normally face a lot of challenging situations, but I usually make sure I get my way out of all the challenges. From my transfers, I used $25, I divided the amount among my four school going children, in order to pay their school fees and ensure their education continued. With $9 remaining, I wisely purchased food to nourish my family. Through resilience and unwavering commitment, I prioritized their well-being and created a foundation for a brighter future. Life has not been easy but thanks to GiveDirectly for all the support they have given me and my beautiful children.

My plan is to buy livestock because I have always been interested in livestock rearing, so the transfers that I would be receiving from GiveDirectly would be of great help. I want to ensure that every month I set aside some amount that would enable me to buy the livestock by the end of the year and in case of any financial difficulties in future, I would be in a position to sell and get the money I need.

I receive the money at a time I was financially down owing to the fact that I am a single parent. My children had been sent home for school fees and they were required to pay some amount of money so that they would be allowed to sit for their examination, but I did not have the capability, and with the ongoing drought, acquiring food had also been another challenge. But the transfers that I received from GiveDirectly had been of great support, I managed to clear the school fees balance of KES. 2000 and also bought school uniforms worth KES.1000. The remaining amount of KES. 470 enabled me to buy food for my children and I was very grateful for the support.

I am a widow and a mother of four children. All of them are school-going. Since I do not have any formal job, I always make charcoal for sale to support my children. Since the income from this venture is low, I always struggle to pay fees for my children. When I confirmed my transfer, I spent $10 on paying school fees even though they had fee arrears of $15. I saved $15 with the hope of building up my saving with an intention of beginning to raise both goats and cows. They are valuable livestock that can be of help to my family in the future.

From each transfer I received since the beginning, I ensured to gradually finish paying for a piece of land that I had bought, but this time I did not. This is because my two children who were still in school had been kicked out of class due to my failure in settling the debt in tuition fee and it had been over a week since they were seen at school. This situation was worrying me so much and left me in so much turmoil because I knew that they were missing out. Soon enough the organization sent out the transfers and I used KES 2,000 of the funds to pay school fees. Afterwards I used the balance, which was KES 1,000 and went ahead to buy five packets of maize flour since there was barely any food in the house and my children looked up to me since I was a widow and the only person who could provide for them.

GiveDirectly does well by helping us achieve things that we never thought we would have. I am happy that I own land. The land will go out in giving me peace of mind as I will never ever get threatened to be evacuated on my land. This will give me an opportunity to settle and build my life better.

I am a single mother who survives mainly from doing casual jobs. It is through these manual jobs that I could save and buy land for myself and my children. I used part of my last transfer to pay part of remaining date for the land. When I received my second transfer I spent KSH 1000 to finish the paying for the land. I am thrilled that I am now the owner of new land. I previously received threats of eviction from where I stayed. It is because of the threats that I worked hard and saved my earnings to buy the land. Together with my family, we are planning on moving to the new location soon. Besides buying the land, I spent KSH 2000 to pay school fees for my children. To ensure they continue with their education well, I paid the fees early in advance.

I was in the field cutting down some dry shrub to make charcoal. My phone vibrated several times, but I did not give it any attention. I was just focused on cutting the shrubs and make charcoal because I was really in need of money. While resting because of exhaustion, I checked the phone and noticed that I had received some funds. I quickly left what I was doing and walked towards my house, where I sent my helper to go withdraw the funds. I was thrilled because I knew I was one step closer to owning the land that I have been paying for the longest time.

The transfer has made a big difference in my life. I am very close to owning my land. The funds I am receiving are a major contributor towards me owning the land. Since my husband died, I have struggled so much to pay and also to feed my children. I currently do not have a job and this has made it very difficult to earn a lot of money. The little I earn is mostly used to pay school fees and buy food.

I spent the KSH 1200 to pay for a piece of land. Together with my husband we had started the payment of the ½ an acre land. We wanted to purchase land where we could settle and building our own house and also set aside some space for farming. Inheriting land from parents has been the most cause of sibling rivalry within our village. Purchasing the land was a wise decision to avoid such scenarios. In addition, the land we stayed was unproductive because of the daily usage by other family members. The land owner sold it at KSH 25000. Before the demise of my husband, we pay KSH 23000. When I received the transfer, I spent it all in paying for the land so that we can eventually achieve the dream we had together with husband. I am happy that I will clear the whole fee when I receive my next transfer and eventually move to the new land, together with my children.