My wife has been jobless and I have been the only one making an income. I used to get motorcycle riding jobs on casual basis but they did not pay much as most of the money I got went into paying the owner and fuelling. I wanted to buy my own motorcycle so as to reduce this expenses. I now own the motorcycle though on loan. I am now in the city running the business to make an income. I hope to be able to pay for the motorcycle fully from the proceeds of working with it while paying my savings group loan using the transfers.

I joined a village savings group from the time I joined Givedirectly. Being a member of the group I am eligible to a loan. I increased my savings to $30 over the past three months so I could take a significantly large loan. I had found a place where I could buy a motorcycle on loan and I knew by being able to get the deposit from my Village savings group I could afford to take the motorcycle and pay for it as I worked for it. I took a loan of $200 in December and went to Mombasa to get the motorcycle as well as work there.

I have two children and when my wife was taken back to her home she went with them. They are soon becoming of school going age and I need them to bee at arms reach to ensure I am able to support them financially, mentally and physically. I want to clear my dowry debt to ensure that they get back as soon as possible. After I get my wife back, I would like to get a second hand motorbike which I hope to use to raise cash to take care of my family.

I married not so far back, this was a good thing for me but at the time I did not have a sufficient amount to pay for dowry. I have lived with my wife ever since we got married but in February this year she was taken back home since I had not finished settling my debt with the family. I need to settle a debt worth $200. I have been sending monthly from my transfers, to my in-laws. $20 to help bring down my debt. I did this with my June, July and august transfers. I had also moved to the city which meant I needed to get a space to live, I spend the rest of the amount to settle my rent payments.

I have been operating a motorcycle taxi while looking for employment, but it had been less profitable. I constantly have a small amount of cash after paying the owner because the motorcycle belongs to someone. I hope to build my savings and purchase a motorcycle from my subsequent monthly transfers in the upcoming periods. If I succeed to get formal employment, it will serve as a backup source of income. I will easily raise enough money with a motorcycle to support my family. It will significantly lessen the difficulties I have experienced over the past few years.

Recently, I relocated to town in search of employment opportunities. In an attempt to support my family, my wife has been doing a house help job to help raise additional income. Despite all these, life is still a big struggle. Since I am away from home, when I received my transfer, I spent $10 on food for my upkeep. I also sent $15 to my family at home. I have been using the rest for my daily needs since I have not yet gotten a job though I am optimistic I will get one soon. I am grateful to GiveDirectly for its unwavering support because I can always meet my family's nutritional needs even though I do not have a job.

I took a motorcycle on loan but it was re-possesed because I could not make the prearranged payment on time. I was able to at least settle $140 but due to the tough economic time I was unable to settle $50. I am currently moving up and down in my search for a well paying job and I am confident that once I do, I will get the motorcycle back and save enough money so that I will start a little business for my wife so that she has a way to make money and buy everything she wants for herself. I will also make sure I open my own business and make huge profit and have the life we as a family desired.

According to my tradition, I am supposed to have settled my wife's bridal price by now but due to financial constraints I am still struggling to settle it. Her family came and took her back home in December last year and gave me a condition of settling the bride price and until then my wife and children will live with her parents as traditional demands.The moment I received my transfers I sent $14 to my wife for her upkeep and the remaining amount of $20 I saved for my wife's bridal price. I am doing everything in my power to bring my wife and children back home to live together once again as a big family.

The transfers have been of great help and I thank God because it would not have been easy without the support. I bought a motorcycle on credit. Unfortunately, it was recently impounded because I failed to pay the weekly KES 2500 to service the debt leaving me with no reliable source of income. I have therefore, devoted KES 2200 of the monthly transfers to purchase cornflour and KES 800 for boosting my spouse’s business. She prepares and sells chapatis and currently, this is our main source of income. The prices of food commodities have gone up and if it was not for GiveDirectly then raising my family of five would have been a challenge.

In my view, GiveDirectly is one of the fewest NGOs that offers outstanding help to the neediest community members. Its model of giveing direct cash transfer is beneficial to us because we can always prioritize our needs and use the cash to meet such needs. The transfer is unconditional thus as beneficiaries we can use them in a way that is beneficial to us without strings attached to it. Moreover, it promotes confidentiality and security by ensuring that the cash is sent directly through Mpesa.

With my recent transfer, I was able to purchase maize flour for my family. Even though I do motorcycle taxis, there has a low income generated from this business owing to the high cost of living. For the two consecutive seasons, we never had any good harvest hence we have been forced to keep on buying food. The increase in food prices has of late made it even more difficult for us to obtain food thus we occasionally miss meals. Fortunately, when I received my transfer, I felt relief because I knew that I could acquire food that could take my family for about a week.

It was around 10 p.m. when I arrived home from work. I got a message that confirmed I had received funds from give directly. This made me feel very relieved as I was worried about how my wife would react if she learned that I had not made money that day. I shared the news with her and together we decided that we should buy some food. Since the shops had already closed, we did so the following day. Unfortunately, we had to sleep hungry.

I have been living a life full of financial hardships. To provide for my family, I fully depended on my job as a motorcyclist. This earns me very little and even worse, the motorcycle I use, I had bought it on hire purchase. Weekly, I need to pay KES 2500. This month, I've not been able to meet this as I had less money. So, I opted to use it towards feeding my family. For this reason, I have been getting constant calls requesting me to make my repayments which has been stressing me out. Now that I'm receiving these funds from give directly, my life will be improved. The funds will help in the provision for my family's needs as I work on settling the motorcycle debt.

I am married with two children and the sole provider of the family. I also work as a motorcyclist. Before, the job was easy, but after the hiked fuel prices, it has been very hard and I find myself working for the fuel. Thereby lacking funds to take home. For 2 days, we had been forced to sleep hungry as we had run out of food in the household. I tried asking for help from relatives but it was all in vain. so, when I got the funds from give directly, I use it all to purchase some food for us