God willing, I am planning to upgrade my kitchen from a mudwàlled to a timber-walled house if I get enough money soon.

In my opinion, GiveDirectly does well to train us on how to spend the money before dispatching it to us.

I have been suffering from back pain for the past five years. As a result, I could not do heavy tasks and these forced me to rely on my kids for both food and water. In a week we used to hire a motorcycle to fetch water at KES 200. This was quite costly given that food was also on the budget. So, when GiveDirectly transfers came my priority was a water tank. I, therefore, spent, spent KES 21,000 on a 3000 liters plastic water tank. This will help store clean rainwater for a longer time. Fortunately, after the recent rains, my water tank is full to the brim. And presently I no longer rely on my kids to hire me for a water transportation system. In addition, I spent KES 3,000 on a bag of maize. This will sustain us longer unlike before when we used to sell milk for a kilo of maize meal. Furthermore, I spent KES 3,800 on the latest clothing fashion which I couldn't afford before. I also gave KES 10,000 to my husband for clothing and personal care. Lastly, I spent KES 4,000 on the settlement of a utensil debt.

I received a message late at night when I was already asleep. I could not check it up at that moment since I thought it was just a random message from the service provider. On checking it up in the morning, my spouse was already out and had to run to my daughter's house who confirmed that account balance. I celebrated with her since she had just seen her message with the same information. I came home later in the evening to inform my husband who had already gotten the information from other villagers. with the plans that we already had, we collected after two days and made the first purchases.

The biggest difference in my daily life is the increased investment in livestock farming. Buying a bullock was a great idea to me since the cost of a dairy cow was double the cost. Keeping a bullock is so easy as they grow fast without any special treatment required and within a short time, I will be able to sell at a profit to purchase a dairy cow.

Living in a village marked by long dry seasons, keeping livestock is inevitable since crop farming keeps failing whenever rainfall fails. On receiving the first transfer, I had lots of plans but first I had to add a bullock to the existing herd as this is the only trusted investment that I had been dependent on for a long time. I spent the first KES 15000 on buying a bullock that I am currently feeding with a plan to sell in the next six months with a profit and used the outcome in buying a dairy cow. I also managed to purchase some construction materials useful in an ongoing construction of a new house. With KES 4000, I was able to buy four bags of cement. I also obtained household goods that included kitchenwares at KES 7000, foodstuff at KES 4000, and also a pair of dresses and a pullover at a total cost of KES 36000. I saved the remaining amount that we are still using in replenishing any exhaustion within the household to date.