In Kenya, professional football does not pay as well as it does in other countries, making it hard to have as a main source of income. I have a huge passion for football but at one point, I was almost quitting it completely because I spent most of my time playing, but would then come back to ask for financial assistance from my mother who was not very pleased. She had put a lot of pressure on me to quit football and look for a serious job that would earn me money for my needs so that I would stop depending on her at my age. When I started receiving monthly transfers from Give Directly, I got the confidence I needed to keep playing football because I did not have to ask for handouts from my mother any more. I am currently planning to start a business that will sustain me after the project so that I can keep playing football untill the day I will finally get a better opportunity to play for the big clubs. I am very grateful to Give Directly for enabling me to pursue my passion.

I am currently playing soccer professionally, but because my team is still very small, I do not earn much because I get paid a daily allowance of $2, which is also not paid consistently. The money is very little and not able to take care of my needs so I need an extra source of income otherwise I will be forced to quit football and look for a better paying job. I am very passionate about football and would not wish to quit, so I have plans of starting a poultry project which will be a joint project for my friend and I. I hope that by the time the monthly transfers come to an end, the poultry project will be up and running so that I will still have a consistent income.

A friend of mine and I came together and made a decision that we needed to have a business that would sustain us financially after the project is over. After long deliberations, we settled for a poultry project where we will be having layers and broiler chickens, so we will be selling both chicken and eggs. For this to be possible we agreed to be saving the whole amount that we receive each month from Give Directly until we have the amount required. I have been saving all my transfers in my M-pesa account each month as agreed including the amount I recently received.

Currently, my life is different from how it was in that, I am financially disciplined. I managed to save some in our group. We plan to buy tents and seats as a group that we will be renting out so as to get the money that we will be dividing among ourselves from time to time.

My new goal is to buy a house. It is cheaper to buy houses in our area. I have started planning for the future because I know that I will not be a professional footballer forever. Once I buy them, I will be renting out to get my monthly income that will be used for our daily needs.

The love for football made me work so hard and now, I am in the football academy. I play for Gor Mahia youth's club. We have had a lot of challenges since we do not have a donor at the moment. My love for football and growing as an upcoming footballer made me buy sport shoes that we use during our normal practices because the previous ones we worn out. I did not mind doing this because I know that once we get a sponsor, the money will be refunded back because the records are kept once a receipt is provided. I finally saved the rest of the money.

The fact that I can now assist my family financially is a very big difference in my life which would never have been if it were not for GD. Since I completed college, I have not been able to land any form of employment which forced me to completely depend on my parents for all my financial needs, but now, I can afford to take care of my needs on my own, all thanks to GD.

Now that I am done with my college yet has not come across any kind of formal employment, I want to start a second-hand shoe business in the next few months so that I can have a stable source of income and be able to fully support my parents especially with the household requirements. I have settled on shoe business because it is the kind of business that is always in season and does very well around here. It also does not require a large space and all I need is a small capital

I gave the whole amount I recently received to my mother to help her cater for the household needs because she had been very sick the previous month and was unable to work for own income. I still live with my parents and being able to assist financially especially during such critical times was the best thing ever.

I am planning to transport them the onions from my farm to the market here in Nairobi. The transfers are going to facilitate this. If this goes through I will have more income through the proceeds.

The biggest difference in my life is that I started large scale farming of onions. My father was already doing farming and I used to really admire the business since he gets lots of profit. The challenge that I had was capital to start farming. When I got the transfers I bought seedlings and planted them. At the moment they are only one month away from harvesting. It is an acre and as soon as I harvest them I am going to get lots of money. Having certainty of a brighter future through large scale farming gives me joy.

I spent last month's transfer of KES 5000 as examination fees for my course. I study locomotive engineering in a nearby college. I saved KES 1000 through mobile money saving platform.

The transfers trickled in at around 5 am in the morning. I did not check the phone immediately so I was not aware that the transfers were in. A friend who also receives the transfer called me and informed me on the same. I was super excited when I indeed checked that I had received the transfer. I was all smiles throughout the lecture that my classmates were awed.