After so many years of casual work, I decided to try out a business. At first, I began with a very small stock because I did not have much to help me buy a good stock. It was a struggle because there are so many cloth businesses in my area. I could not give up on the business because the income was more than what I used to get from casual work. I had to try harder and keep up with the business. When I started getting my transfers, I started using part of my monthly transfers in boosting my business by adding more stock each time I got the transfers. Right now, I have hopes that very soon I will be able to have a good stock which can generate profit for paying rent for the business and to sustain my needs. I would not want to continue selling on the streets.

My new goal is to boost my cloth business. The business has been my very main source of income and as at now, the stock I have is not much to make me rent a premise. My desire is to boost the business so that it can generate an income to help me pay for business rent and sustain my family needs.

I spent my transfer on paying school fees for my daughter as she was joining for the first time. She would not have been allowed in school without the money. I thank GD for the transfers because I did not take a loan to take my child to school. Without the transfers, I would have to take a loan from our group to pay up.

After I quit my business when I had complications with my pregnancy, life became so tough because I then had to solely depend on my husband who does not have a stable source of income. This caused a lot of arguments between us because he always felt like I was giving him a lot of pressure while I also felt that he was not doing enough taking care of his family as every man should. We eventually had to separate when the disagreements became too much but I went back the moment I started receiving the transfers. Life has been better with the transfers because I am now able to support my husband in taking care of the bills and other provisions especially when he is unable to do so. There has been a lot of peace in our marriage and I intend to keep it that way even after the transfers which is why I need to get back to my business before the project ends.

I was forced to quit my clothing business last year after I experienced complications with my pregnancy leaving me with no source of income. I am now better and the baby has also grown enough to allow me to get back into the business, which is why I am planning to get back into the business as soon as possible. This is not a new goal though because I have always had it mind and was only waiting for the right time.

I used part of the money I recently received to pay our rent for the past month as my husband was not in a position to pay for. I then added some of my savings from the previous month to the rest of the money then paid school fee for my daughter in kindergarten.

Before I started receiving money from GD, I constantly had conflicts with my mother who expected me to take care of half of the household financial needs yet my income would not allow that to happen. The frustrations eventually forced me to move out and live with my boyfriend who offered to take care of me. After I started receiving the transfers, I was able to support my mother financially because, during that time, she had lost her job and was struggling to take care of the household needs especially paying rent and paying school fees for my siblings. Without GD, I would not be in a position to assist her financially because my business only gave enough to spend on my needs.

Before I gave birth, I had a clothes business which I hawked because I could not afford to rent a stall. I, however, had to pause for a while to take care of my newborn but I will revive it once the baby is four months old. I wish to expand the business by increasing the amount of stock I purchase and renting a stall because it would be hard hawking with my baby on my back. This will also give my customers an easy time finding me whenever they want some of the items I sell and I m sure the money I am currently setting aside will make it possible for me to buy more stock and rent a stall before the business stabilizes.

I recently had a newborn baby so I spent part of the money I recently received to buy him personal items such as clothes, shoes and diapers. I then saved the rest of the money in my bank account for any emergencies and future business plans.

My new goal is to start a new business where I sell chips. I will save part of my transfers and use the savings to start this business. I decided on this business because I have been depending on casual jobs and now that I am expectant I cannot do hard jobs. This business will be a source of income to cater for the basic needs for my family.

The biggest difference in my life is that I can now save part of my income from casual jobs. Before receiving my transfers, I could not save because all the money I got from the business and casual jobs could only buy food and pay rent. I am now happy since I use my transfers to buy food, pay rent and school fees for my children and can save the income from casual jobs.

I used my recent transfer repay debts for a friend who has reported me in the police station. I had promised to repay the money the previous month but I did not pay because I did not have the money since casual jobs are not constant. I decided to repay the debts since I had a lot of pressure from her and the money I got from the casual jobs was not enough to repay the debt. I also used the remaining amount to clear school fees arrears for my child in primary school.

It was seven o'clock in the morning when I woke up and upon checking my phone I was very happy to get the Mpesa notification message that I have received money from Give Directly. It was my joy because I knew that I will expand my businesses where I sell second hand clothes.