My dream has always been to own rental houses, providing me with a reliable source of monthly income, especially once this program comes to an end. This would help me support my family. As a fisherman, my work has allowed me to take care of my loved ones, but I wanted to create something more sustainable. To pursue this dream, I took out a loan of $70, which enabled me to purchase a piece of land. My plan is to use part of my transfers to pay off the loan. Once I have cleared the loan, I intend to save more from my fishing earnings and the transfers I receive. I will then gradually buy building materials and start to construct the houses. These houses will serve as valuable assets, allowing me to provide for my family and support my children's education. I also ventured into poultry farming, but I've faced challenges due to a coccidiosis outbreak that has resulted in significant losses. I hope that once this outbreak is over, I will be left with enough chickens to continue breeding them. In the future, I aim to sell some of them to help support my family during tough times.

I took out a $70 loan to purchase a piece of land along the road that I had always admired, with the goal of building rental houses that would provide a steady income to support my family. Since then, I've been diligently working to repay the loan, and I recently made a payment of $90 from my transfers from GiveDirectly toward it. Although I still have a long way to go, I'm thrilled to see the progress I'm making. In addition to that, I spent $8 on school fees for my children so they could sit for their exams. Education is important to me, and I want to ensure they have every opportunity. Finally, I used the remaining $4 to buy some food for my family, supplementing what I had already brought in from my work as a fisherman. I'm truly grateful for the opportunity that GiveDirectly has provided me and my family, and I’m optimistic about the brighter days ahead.

I am currently engaged in various activities such as fishing and selling charcoal to support my family. My primary goal is to ensure that my children stay in school without interruptions to their education. I am determined to provide them with a better life that they truly deserve, which drives me to pursue any available income-generating opportunity. In addition to my other activities, I also manage twenty chickens and three ducks, which I can sell when we face financial challenges to meet our needs. Looking ahead, I plan to expand my investments in goats; currently, I have twelve. Thanks to GiveDirectly, receiving monthly support has significantly eased the financial burden. It allows me to easily pay my children's school fees and provide them with the care they need.

I am a father of nine children; six currently attending school. One of my greatest joys is ensuring they receive an education that will shape their futures positively. From the recent transfer, I allocated $60 to pay my children's school fees, ensuring their education continues uninterrupted. Additionally, I spent $14 on stationery for them, providing necessary supplies like pens and books for their studies. I also believe in taking care of my wife's happiness and well-being. I spent another $14 to buy her a pair of shoes, acknowledging her constant dedication to our family's welfare. With the remaining $14, I purchased food for our family, which brought us immense happiness throughout the week. Seeing my family well-fed and content fills me with gratitude and motivates me to continue providing for their needs and aspirations.

My primary goal is to ensure my children have no debts in school and attend school consistently without any disruptions caused by delayed fee payments which usually lead to them being sent away from school. This is why I plan on continuing to use the transfers to pay their school fees and also take care of any other school requirements. Besides this, I also aim at continuing to expand my livestock herd by buying more goats and chicken whenever possible. This is to cushion myself against the high fee requirements that I will experience once my children join highschool. I currently have around 50 chickens and 20 gees which I intend to sell and use the proceeds to buy a much larger and easier to manage livestock such as a cow. In future, I can sell the cow to raise any money in times of financial emergencies.

I have 5 children in school which I primarily rely on these transfer to pay their fees and buy their school supplies. Each of the 5 is required to pay a fee of $8 per term which totals to $40 for the five of them. Due to my low income which is from casual jobs, charcoal making and sometimes fishing, I am unable to provide for their basic needs as well as their school needs. For this reason, I always ensure that I clear their fees whenever I receive the transfers, mostly setting aside approximately $24 of the transfers and spending the remaining amount on other school supplies or household requirements. Whenever possible, I also try to expand my already large herd of livestock by buying either chicken or goats as they are more affordable. An example is in the month of February when I managed to purchase a young goat at $32. The livestock are an investment I am hoping will help once my children join high school as I will easily be able to sell them and raise the required fees.

My primary goal is to provide a good education for my children, ensuring they can pursue their studies up to college level. To achieve this, my plan is to expand my current livestock numbers using the monthly transfers I receive. I firmly believe that by investing in the growth of my livestock, I can secure a brighter future for my family. This investment will not only support their education but also pave the way for improved opportunities for them once they graduate from college, enabling them to secure good jobs and lead better lives. Education has always been a priority for me, and I am dedicated to giving my children the best possible chance to succeed academically and achieve their dreams.

As a casual laborer and a charcoal seller, my primary responsibility is to provide for my wife and our seven children. There was a time I had lost all hope of being able to sustain my family, but I am genuinely grateful to Give Directly for providing a lifeline through their monthly transfers. With this newfound stability, I decided to venture into livestock rearing, a source of income that offers promising returns. Combining the income from my casual jobs, I allocated $68 to acquire a goat and a cow, which I plan to raise to maturity. Currently, I have a total of eight goats, which I can sell in case of emergencies. Furthermore, I spent $20 to cover my children's school fees, ensuring they could continue their education as a new term had begun. The remaining $14 was put towards purchasing food for my family, helping us overcome a shortage we were facing.

My main goal is always to ensure that my family live a good life despite the frequent challenges that we face. I have school-going children and it had always not been easy to get the money to fully pay for their school fees and this had been something that I would want to eradicate. My plan was therefore to keep livestock as many as I could so that I would sell them in the future whenever I am faced with financial challenges and get the money to cater for the needs. To achieve this, I would ensure that I buy at least one goat every month with the transfers that I would be receiving.

I have always wanted to have my own livestock that I believe would be of help in the future whenever I am faced with financial challenges. Therefore the transfers that I have been receiving from GibveDirectly had been of great help to me and with the most recent one, I managed to buy one goat worth $25 to add to the ones that I already had. I also paid school fees worth $5 for one of my children who was joining nursery school and spent the remaining amount of $4.70 on food since the stock that we had was also depleted, and so far I am very grateful for the support.

The investment of the transfer proceeds toward the purchase of goats will be my greatest accomplishment this year and moving forward. I currently have 8 goats in total, and my goal is to increase this herd to a sizable size. The proceeds from the sale of some of the goats will then be used to purchase cows. The price of a cow can range from $50000 to $80000. This sum is enormous and can address many of my issues. Many cows equal a lot of wealth that can be cashed in at any time.

I'm working on any available job that comes my way because of the country's deteriorating current economy. I do work related to selling charcoal, fishing, and building homes. All of these jobs have one thing in common: I don't make enough money to support my family on my meager pay. My children are the first to bear the impact whenever I am unable to land a job. Due to significant unpaid school fees, they are frequently expelled. I paid $4 in school fees for my youngest son, who was starting kindergarten this year, when I received my February transfers. With the aid of the Give Directly transfers, I am pleased and confident that I will see my children through to the end of their highest level of education. Last but not least, I bought a goat with the remaining $30. I want them to grow in number so I can eventually sell some and buy some cows, so this is an investment for the future. The market value of the cows is extremely high, which will be economically advantageous for me when I wil be selling them in the market.

When I started receiving money from GiveDirectly I began to invest in goat-rearing projects. I spent $25 on purchasing a goat. The reason why I loved this project is that goats reproduce twice per year. I will sell the young ones to be able to purchase an ox. I have always wanted to own an ox since it helps in plowing the farm during the planting season and makes the work much easier. For the remaining amount of money, I top up with my little savings and purchase shoes, book, and pens for my five children in primary school. I am so happy because GiveDirectly has improved our living standards

Before the transfers came through, I barely had any money and yet I had a debt in tuition fee which led to my children being sent home almost everyday. I spoke to the administration and promised to pay as soon as I got the money. Sooner than later GiveDirectly sent out the transfers, so I took KES 1,800 and paid it for my four children. Since we were also facing challenges when it came to having a meal I ensured that I used the balance of KES 1,100 and purchased five packets of maize flour. Lastly I took the KES 100 left and bought laundry detergent.

In my opinion, the transfers I get monthly is something GiveDirectly does well. I can develop myself. I'm now assured of having money every month unlike in the past. I therefore, intend to plan adequately that I may grow. At the moment, I do not feel there's something GiveDirectly is not doing well.

When I received the first transfer, one of my children who is a class 8 candidate needed some money for the national exams. I therefore, spent KES 800 on this. The remaining KES 300 was used on food. For the second transfer, I used it to reduce my debt at the school. Thus, I paid KES 2500. Since it very hot at this time of the year in my region, I had to get my children shoes. I spent the remaining KES 500 on buying them shoes.

I was in the forest gathering wood ready to burn charcoal, when I had my phone beep. I stopped for a second to check the message. I was happy and excited when I saw the Mpesa message. All of a sudden I stopped doing what I was doing and rushed home.It was a relief because charcoal burning is one of the hardest job have ever had to do and takes long for one to enjoy its benefits.

The biggest difference in my daily life since I started receiving this transfers is being debt free when it comes to my children school fees. I have 7 children where 4 are already in the lower primary and the other 3 are yet to join school in the next 2 years.I am hopeful that I will be able to pay my children school fees with the next 5 years support program.Besides I have interest in keeping of livestock as a way of supporting my family and retiring from working as a charcoal burner.

I have 7 children and the oldest is a candidate. I received my transfer when she was at home because she was expected to pay her end term exam fee. The situation at home was quite frustrating because I mainly rely on working as a charcoal burner and the process takes more than a day to be ready .I took KES 800 and paid partly her exam fee as I used the remaining KES 370 to buy a meal for my family for the next 2days as I hope to make sales.