Anticipating my forthcoming share of the savings from the merry-go-round, valued at $80 and expected in mid-year, I have devised a strategic investment plan centered around acquiring goats. Through research, I have learned that goats can be acquired at a cost of approximately $30 each. This venture aligns with my overarching goal of eventually owning a cow, a more substantial asset that currently remains financially out of reach. By starting with goats, I aim to gradually accumulate a sufficient number to leverage for the purchase of a cow in the future. In addition to serving as a stepping stone towards this goal, goats also offer the added benefit of providing nutritious milk for my children, contributing to their well-being. Once I am able to acquire a cow, my focus will shift towards utilizing milk production both for family consumption and as a source of income through sales. This multifaceted approach underscores my commitment to ensuring the welfare and future prospects of my family. As a mother of 10, I am acutely aware of the need to plan ahead, exercise creativity, and pursue efficient strategies to safeguard my children's future while simultaneously meeting their present needs. Through strategic investments and forward-thinking initiatives like this, I am dedicated to creating a sustainable path towards prosperity and security for my family.

As a member of a local savings group comprised of fellow Givedirectly beneficiaries, I diligently set aside $10 from my transfers each month. This proactive measure reflects my commitment to leveraging the transfers for larger investments beyond meeting immediate needs. Following this savings allocation, I allocate the remaining funds across my household's most pressing expenses, which is mostly school fees and essential provisions such as food supplies. With a total of 10 children, eight of whom are currently enrolled in school, the financial demand for their education is substantial. Each term requires approximately $100 in fee payments for all of them being that they are all in primary school. Prioritizing these educational expenses is paramount, as failure to do so could jeopardize their continued enrollment in school. After accounting for savings and school fees, there is often little remaining from the transfers. Any surplus funds are typically allocated towards purchasing food supplies and meeting other essential household needs. Given our reliance on income from charcoal making, it is evident that meeting the needs of our large family remains a constant challenge. Despite the financial constraints, I remain committed to maximizing the impact of the transfers by diligently saving and prioritizing essential expenses.

My main goal is to invest in goats and chickens. I plan to achieve this by utilizing the savings I have diligently accumulated over the course of this year. Having these animals on hand will provide a safety net in case of any unexpected emergencies, as I can sell them to address any urgent issues that may arise. The assistance provided by Give Directly has significantly improved our living standards, and I will always be grateful to them for their support

I have endured a challenging life, and providing for and educating my eight children has never been an easy task, even with the support of my husband. Our primary source of income has been digging out tree stumps in neighboring farms, which is strenuous work and doesn't yield enough to cover all our needs. Nevertheless, I am grateful that Give Directly has provided us with a lifeline during these difficult times. From the transfers we received, I managed to save $60, which I plan to invest in purchasing goats and chickens. I intend to raise and sell them for a profit once they reach maturity. Additionally, I allocated $30 to settle school fee arrears as my children had been sent home due to non-payment. The remaining $12 was used to buy food for my family, as our resources were insufficient to meet our dietary needs.

My main goal is to engage in livestock-rearing project. With the tough times ahead and owing to the fact that I have a large family of 8 children, getting money to cater for their needs would be a great challenge for my husband and I. Therefore, I would want to venture into something that would help generate income in the long run and I plan to buy goats with the transfers that I would be getting and later sell some of them to buy cows and with the livestock in place, I am assured that I would be in a better place to even educate my children with ease.

The transfers that I have been receiving had been of great help, with the tough economic situation, getting money to fully provide for the family had been quite a challenge. I have a total of 8 children, 4 of whom had been sent home for school fees, but I had no money to pay for their school fees. I also wanted to do farming since we had been experiencing rains for the last couple of months but getting people to help out with the farming had not been easy due to the lack of money. But upon receiving the transfers, I felt so relieved because I managed to meet some of my needs; I divided the total amount I received where $10 was spent each on farming, food, school fees and saved the remaining amount of $4. No words could express how happy and relieved I was.

In the next one year and beyond, I would want to have my own livestock. I had started saving little amount on a monthly basis and I want to ensure that I have enough money to buy goats and with time trade them for cows, and during the cultivation period, the cows would be of great help to me as I would no longer struggle to look for money to pay out those cultivating my land.

I have always wanted to buy livestock for rearing, and due to the lack of money, I have never been privileged to. Getting enough money to feed my family had also been a challenge for my husband and I. Upon receiving the money I managed to remit $20 to my savings group for my future project(livestock-rearing), bought food worth $12 and also bought books worth $2 for my three children who were joining new classes. I feel happy because, with the little savings that I have been making from the transfers, my project would soon commence.

My husband has been working as a charcoal burner and we have eight children together. Lately, it has been a struggle because business is on the low. It may take more than a week for him to get a customer to buy a bag of charcoal which is about $4. Receiving these support funds for the last few months has been my main source of income which has been covering our food expenses and paying my children’s school fees. I recently received my funds and used $10 to open a grocery that entirely sells only tomatoes and sardines. The business has picked up well and at least I can make $3, which can afford to buy my family a meal every day. The other $10 was used to pay school fees for two of my children. I normally alternate paying for the five at school to ensure they do not send them home. The remaining $10 was used to buy food, which is five packets of maize flour that normally last us for at least three days. My husband was relieved and so happy to see that I had some of our needs met with the cash received from GiveDirectly.

I sell cooked food along the streets but currently, the demand is low. In most cases, we end up consuming a bigger portion of the unsold food in the family to avoid wastage since I do not have a fridge to store the unsold food. This has led me to run into losses which have made it challenging raising school fees for my 3 children who are in primary school. The moment when I received the recent transfer, I spent 2000 KES on their school fees so that they could be allowed in school. KES 1000 I spent on some of the foodstuffs for the family and detergents that we lacked.

The funds have been very helpful. Using them, I bought myself some chickens and also paid my children's school fees. So in my opinion, give directly has done extremely well and there's nowhere that they have done badly.

I received two transfers from give directly. The first transfer, I used KES500 to pay for my children's school fees and KES700 to buy some flour and soap. When I received the second transfer, I had a school fee arrears of KES3000. So, I used KES1500 to reduce the bill, bought two chickens at KES500, and the remaining KES1,000, I used to buy some flour. These funds have boosted my earnings from the street food vending business and I can now comfortably provide for my 8children.

I was so happy. I did not think about receiving the money from GiveDirectly. It came as a big and pleasant surprise.

My life has been great. The money assisted so much in uplifting my family. I think I will be in big debts trying to support my family.

Receiving this transfer from GiveDirectly has been if great help to me and my family. It came when I least expected. I managed to buy five packets of the floor at Kes. 500. Paid school fees and bought soap with the remaining amount. I am a mother of seven. Three girls and four boys. I am a farmer and a casual worker. My husband also does casual work also a farmer. You out a smile on our face and lifted our hope high.