"I have been having dreams of becoming a livestock farmer, and so I started venturing into it using some of my previous transfers and this makes me happy as I see myself grow. My plan for this year and beyond is to keep on educating my children and to continue buying additional chicken and goats. To achieve this, I intend to keep on saving some of my transfers in our local savings group so that once they mature, I may use some of the money to invest in livestock. I am hopeful these animals will multiply and increase in number and value so that in the future I may be able to sell them and use the proceeds to take care of my family as well as take care of my children's education. This venture aims at establishing a sustainable source of income that I will be able to rely on in the future so that once this program comes to an end, I won't be left empty-handed and vulnerable but elevated from where I was before. I'm truly grateful to GiveDirectly for the financial support, as it has been instrumental in uplifting me financially and enabling me to pursue this endeavor."

"It was a Sunday afternoon, and I had just come back from church, settling down to relax when I heard my phone ring with a message notification. I asked my children to bring me the phone, and as soon as I saw it was the GiveDirectly transfers, I couldn't contain my joy. I jumped up and down, running in and out of the house, shouting in excitement. My 20-year-old son was thrilled when I told him about the money. Immediately, I began planning how I would use it to buy the household items that had been destroyed during the floods."

"I am a charcoal seller and double up as a carpenter. Through this businesses I have been able to take care of some of my families needs but not all. I would like to build a sustainable emergency fund that will take care of my families needs when I do not make enough from the work I do. I am focusing most of my cash transfers to buying animals which will be able to reproduce and grow in number ensuring I can sell them and raise funds to take care of any needs that come up."

"I have been working towards building a new house as currently my house is leaking from all around. I have been able to secure ten iron sheets so far thanks to the transfers. I am yet to get ten more iron sheets to finish this project. I want to be able to finish this project so I am able to focus my finances on educating my children. I want them to attend school without being absent as a result of lack of school fees. I see that with the cash transfers I can achieve this."

"In the coming year and beyond, my primary goal is to ensure that my four children can attend school without interruptions, particularly from being sent home due to unpaid fees. Additionally, I am working hard to provide for their other basic needs. My eldest daughter is currently in her final year of secondary school, and I am determined that she won't finish school only to sit at home with nothing to do. That’s why I joined a merry-go-round savings group, where I save $20 from my transfers each month. My plan is to enroll her in computer classes immediately after she completes her secondary education. These transfers have given my children opportunities to engage in meaningful activities, keeping them away from early pregnancies and marriages. My focus is solely on continuing to save so that I can provide my children with the education they need to reach their full potential. This is my constant prayer, and I am optimistic that, in the long run, I will achieve what my heart desires for my children."

"With the transfers having a specific timeline, I carefully considered how to invest them in a way that would provide long-term financial support once the assistance comes to an end. In the coming year and beyond, I plan to focus on investing in goats and chickens until I build a substantial herd and flock. These two projects will offer me future financial security, as my passion for livestock rearing motivates me to continue expanding my livestock. To achieve this, I will allocate my monthly transfers to purchase at least one goat and one chicken each month, with a goat costing around $25 and a chicken about $3, adding to my current livestock. My ultimate goal is to ensure long-term stability and self-sufficiency for my family by growing my livestock over time. I am confident in goat rearing because goats adapt well to our weather conditions and are resistant to many diseases. By concentrating on these two projects, I hope to one day share my success story and testify to the positive impact of GiveDirectly's financial support."

"Our age has really advanced to an extent that we can not involve ourselves to any economic activities. We have our last born( Baya Katana) who completed last year but one. Despite him obtaining pleasing grades, our financial constraints could not allow us to take him to college. This situation has frustrated him to an extent of him losing hope of his dream career( Electrical engineering). Another challenge we extremely suffer from is food insecurity. We normally depends on rains to produce food but recently the rains were inadequate to sustain production."

"I am currently engaged in selling of second-hand clothes, a job that is yet to grow well. This means I am forced to depend on my husband who is a casual labourer in Mtwapa town. His daily income is $7.7, an amount that caters for school fees for our three children and also to sustain us with food. Sometimes, it becomes hard to meet some basic needs, a situation that has made my life tougher. Thus, I consider the lack of a stable job to be my biggest challenge."

"I am deeply concerned about my leaking roof. If it rains, I won't have a place to shelter. It's been 10 years since my husband passed away, and I have 7 children to take care of. I've been struggling to make ends meet by making and selling charcoal, but it's been very difficult. I'm 62 years old now and the work is taking a toll on my body, leaving me with joint pain. I'm really afraid and not sure what to do because the rainy season is approaching and my roof needs fixing."

"I am a business owner, that is a small kiosk at my house where I sell the community small daily household Items. One of the greatest challenge I face as a business owner is the fact that not all days are equal. There are days you will make profits and other days where you will get completely no returns.The other challenge I am facing is people taking commodities on debt. The more the debts the less the returns and I find myself going back to the previous profits. This has made me strain so much in business and that would be my biggest challenge."