My husband and I face significant challenges in raising enough money to meet our children's basic needs. Securing jobs is difficult, and the pay is often insufficient. Recognizing this, I am committed to using my transfers wisely to increase our income and provide for our children's needs effectively. My goal for the coming year and beyond is to prioritize my children's education and make the most of these transfers before they come to an end. To achieve this, I plan to save a portion of my transfer to purchase a cow. This investment will enable me to raise additional calves over time, providing a steady source of income through milk production. I can sell the milk to cover my children's school fees and buy essential items for my family. Ultimately, I aim to use the profits from this cow business to fund my children's college education, ensuring they have a bright future and the opportunity to achieve their dreams through quality education. I am determined to invest in their education as it is crucial for their success and future prosperity.

My husband and I work as casual laborers, often struggling to secure enough work to support our family. With several school-going children who rely on us for financial assistance, we made the decision to prioritize using our transfers to pay their school fees. As peasant farmers, finding additional work to put food on the table is challenging, given the limited availability of jobs. The consistent support from Give Directly has provided much-needed stability and assurance, making it a practical choice to allocate our transfers towards our children's education expenses. To ensure our children are not sent home due to fee balances and can concentrate on their studies, I allocated $100 from our transfers towards their school fees. I am grateful to Give Directly for the positive impact it has had on our lives, our children no longer face the risk of being sent home for fee arrears, and their academic performance has improved significantly. The reliability and consistency of the transfers have brought about a positive change, and we are hopeful for a brighter future for our family.

In the coming year, my new goal is to expand my goat-keeping venture. At the moment, I possess two goats, but my aim is to increase their number significantly, as it will bring long-term benefits to my family. With four children currently attending school, this venture will assist me in meeting their educational needs. I am eager to pursue this goal and witness the positive impact it will have on my family's well-being.

When I received my last three months transfers, I made a wise decision to save them in a merry go round. We are ten members in the scheme and I had a goal of raising some money for investment in livestock. This month, I was able to obtain $150, which I then spent on purchasing a cow. I considered this investment to be beneficial in the long run since it will enable my family to get free milk. Moreover, in times of unexpected financial need, I will sell the cow to raise money for that need or for my children's school fees. The transfers have always impacted my life positively and I am so grateful to GiveDirectly for the support.

In the coming year and beyond, my plan is to invest my transfer in purchasing goats. Previously, a significant portion of my transfer went to food and my children's school fees. This was mainly due to the challenges posed by years of drought, which made farming impractical for a long time. Unfortunately, I couldn't venture into other projects, such as buying livestock. However, I am pleased that the situation has improved recently and that I was able to resume farming after a period of sufficient rainfall. I cultivated my four acres of land, and I am now hopeful for a bountiful harvest that will address the food shortages in my household. With food security restored, I can now redirect my finances towards other endeavours, like acquiring goats. I see goat keeping as a promising investment since it offers several benefits. As the goats mature and multiply, I can sell them to fulfil my financial needs, such as educating my children.

I received the transfers at a critical moment when my four children faced the possibility of discontinuing their education due to insufficient funds. I couldn't pay the fees on time, putting their schooling in jeopardy. With no source of income, it seemed like it would take me several months to gather the required funds. However, the monthly transfers came as a blessing, as they allowed me to pay for my children's education, ensuring they continued their studies. Witnessing my children attend school fills me with immense joy and brings me a sense of peace. I also purchased a goat for $30. My plan is to raise this goat in the hope that it will reproduce and multiply. By selling the offspring, I can further fund my children's education and help them achieve their educational goals. In addition to the goat investment, I had also prepared a four-acre farm that required maize seeds for planting. With the support of the transfers, I purchased enough seeds and cultivated the entire farm. Now, I eagerly await a bountiful harvest, which will help alleviate food shortages in my household. Finally, the transfers also enabled me to buy essential food supplies, including maize flour, ensuring that my family has sufficient food for several weeks. This has brought a sense of security and relief to our household, knowing that we won't go hungry.

My ultimate goal is to invest in buying cows once I receive the money from my savings account. With cows, I can generate a steady income through milk production and when the time comes, I will sell them for meat. This investment will help me provide for my family and ensure that my children have a bright future by using the profits from my cow business to pay for my children's college education. I believe that investing in their education is the key to helping them succeed and achieve their dreams. I want them to have access to the best possible education, and I am determined to make that happen.

I am a mother of five children and supporting my family on a limited budget is not an easy thing. My husband works as a casual labourer; cutting trees and burning charcoal to earn income. The moment I received my transfers, I spent $21 to buy food for my beloved children and I also promised myself that I will be keeping $10 into my savings account monthly. Before using my transfers, I usually take time to make decisions that require careful considerations. Unfortunately, life is unpredictable, and one of my children recently fell ill with a high fever. I had to make the difficult decision to use $3 from my remaining transfers to purchase medicine for my child. It is not always easy, but as a family, we are committed to doing our best to keep moving forward and making ends meet. Despite the financial constraint, I am proud to say that my savings are growing to an impressive $120 after just one year and I am planning to use the money to improve my life and my families life. Thanks to GiveDirectly for their unceasing support.

I am a mother of four primary school-going children. As per their age, they are in classes five, three, two, and nursery respectively. Since my husband and I both do casual labor of burning charcoal, it has been a struggle to pay school fees for our children as well as put some meals on the table. After seeing the consistency of how the money is sent to me from GiveDirectly, I came up with a plan that will aid me in catering for my children without straining much as I used to do. I have planned to save at least $20 every month to buy some goats as an investment. Through this plan, I will be having more than 10 goats when the year comes to an end because mature goats give birth twice a year only if all the conditions remain constant. I opted to do this because it will serve as security for my children's education. If the time for joining secondary school reaches I will have the liberty of selling some of the goats to facilitate my children.

Food and water are both in short supply as a result of the present drought, and the little that is available is exceedingly expensive. While I burn charcoal for sale, my spouse performs any odd jobs that are available in the community. My spouse, our four children, and I make up a family of six, and the income we receive from them is insufficient to support us. I'm glad the assistance has been so valuable. I spent $42 over the last three months' worth of transfers on food and water for my family. I paid $22 in school to pay off the tuition arrears that our four children owed the school. I also bought a goat for breeding for $30. I'm hoping that when it has given birth, I may be able to sell some of the young ones to obtain money for our family's needs, especially for my kids' school expenses.

I have three children who are in primary school, classes 4, 3, and nursery respectively. A week before receiving my transfer, they were sent home because of school fees arrears. Since I did not have money, they had to stay at home as they watched some of their friends go to school. We all depend on my husband who works on casual jobs such as selling charcoal and building houses for other people. He was going through a tough time because he had not secured a job for the last three weeks. Having three meals a day was a struggle, and we opted to survive on one meal a day due to a lack of money. When I received my transfer, I was happy because this was a tremendous boost and put an end to our struggles. I paid off the KES 1800 debt that my children owed the school and bought plenty of food for the family, amounting to KES 1200.

Living standards are improving as people are now able to plan themselves accordingly with the unconditional transfers received. Projects are being completed and lives are being bettered all thanks to GiveDirectly.

The lack of adequate funds to sustain a family is a major setback and being jobless, I have witnessed this first hand. I am married to one husband who is employed to look after livestock and together we are blessed with four kids. On receiving the KES 3000, I was quite releaved as we now were able to buy food to last us for ten days at KES 700 enabling us not to sleep hungry anymore as food was almost finished in the house since what my husband makes is not quite enough. More to that, I bought one goat at KES 2000 which I rare at home in our constructed pen. The balance of KES 300, I paid off a debt which I had borrowed for upkeep.

Now that schools are on break, the children are at home and the budget for food has increased. This has been hard for my husband to manage alone. It was my plan to look for a job and share the bills. On this day, I was busy in the kitchen cooking for them when I got the message confirming the receipt of the transfer. I was very excited. Since I love livestock keeping, my first thought was to buy a goat but since this was not possible, I decided to revive my poultry business. I, therefore, started by buying three chickens. Once I gather enough funds from the profit, I will buy some goats, as I intended to thereby grow my business.

I am a poultry farmer. This was however put on hold after all my chickens died due to unknown circumstances. I was then forced to be a housewife, solely depending on whatever my husband brought in from his work as a chef. Now that I'm getting money from give directly, I am planning to revive my business. Already, I have bought myself three chickens. From the profits I will be making after I sell them, I will purchase some goats so I can grow my livestock keeping. There is indeed a big difference for I am more independent now.

I used to practice poultry farming, unfortunately, all my chickens died due to an unknown circumstance. I felt very bad because this was where I got my earnings from. I then was forced to start depending on my husband, who works as a chef. When I received these funds, all I wanted to do was revive my business. I, therefore, decided to buy three chickens. The deficit, I used to purchase some bread and sugar for my family to consume that day. My plan is to have at least own 10 of them. This will enable me to help my husband with supporting our four children. Two of them are in school, one is to start when the schools reopen and the lastborn is still breastfeeding.