The biggest difference in my life since I started receiving these transfers is that I have a permanent house. Anytime I sit to relax in my house during free times, I remember a while ago, I did not have a shelter but because of the transfers, I have a permanent one. I am now living beyond my means because of GD transfers. I no9 longer have to worry about shelter anymore because I know the one I have will sustain us forever.

In my opinion, I feel GD did well in everything from selecting the right people to receive the transfers, the mode of sending the transfers was also secretive and very safe. For me, GD did well in everything.

I spent my transfer on buying building materials such as bricks, iron sheets, nails and timber which I have used to build a new house. The one I had collapsed due to strong winds during the short rains in my area. I was left without a place to stay with my family and had to seek shelter from my mother-in-law. This is why I used my transfers to buy the building materials which I have now used to put up a new permanent house. I did not know I could ever own a permanent house in my life. I am living beyond my dreams because of the transfers.

Owning goats has made life to be totally different so far since my financial status has increased. I settled on keeping them because they have numerous benefits. They reproduce faster compared to any other domestic animal. Their pasture is also readily available because they can stay in any kind of climate. This means that apart from rearing them, I can also do some other stuff. My plan is to let them reproduce and after a while, I will sell the offsprings once they mature and buy a dairy cow. Having a dairy cow means that, I will be getting milk for my family consumption and for commercial purposes which will be my source of income. I believe that I will be able to pay school fees without straining like before. Meeting my family's needs will also be very easy.

I was heading to the farm at around 5:30 am when I heard my phone vibration. I decided to check what the message was all about. When I realized that it was an Mpesa message from GiveDirectly, I was very happy and grateful. There are no words that could express the joy that I actually felt that very day. I was so sure that I was going to achieve most of my long term goals.

I spent part of my first transfer on buying some building materials such as pieces of sheets and nails. This was purposely for the renovation of my house which had an old roof that could leak during the winters. As a result of this, I had to seek shelter at my mother in law's house which was very frustrating. I also bought some goats as assets that I could sell in case of emergencies. The planting season had reached and this time around I was not going to take chances and for this reason, I decided to hire a pair of oxen that helped in ploughing my farm. In the past, I used to dig using my own hand and the main disadvantage was that I couldn't utilize my farm hence ended up getting a poor harvest. Besides ploughing my farm, I also managed to clear school fees for my daughter who is in secondary school. The remaining amount of money was spent on purchasing enough foodstuffs for my family.