GiveDirectly does well by helping the poor in the society. In the recent past, I have experienced many challenges that down my morale of living a good life. This situation is likely to change now that I am a beneficiary of the unconditional transfers. I will use the money wisely and ensure I change my life for the better.  

I am a widow and the only breadwinner in my family. I earn a living mainly working on manual jobs such as fetching water for other people, working on other people’s farms, making and selling brooms and many others. The pay from these jobs is very little and I only spend it in buying food for the family. Because of the little pay that I get, I have been struggling to meet other essential family needs such as paying school fees for my children. When I received my second transfer, I spent a larger portion of it to buy food worth KSH 1900 because we had no food left in the house. Besides buying food, I spent KSH 1100 to clear a school fee date for my daughter, who was due to sit for her end of primary education examinations.

I was fetching water for one of my customer. It was around 9 in the morning. Suddenly, I heard my phone ringing out loudly. Since I had not eaten breakfast, I ignored the phone and finished the job first before I looked. I carried the Jerrican of water and delivered them to the owner and got paid my dues. Immediately thereafter, I checked my phone and found out that I had received my transfer. I jumped up and down, thrilled, smiling from ear to ear. I quickly asked my son to go withdraw the money and buy something to eat for breakfast.

The money has made a big difference in my children's lives. They are now back in school and continuing with their education. I have been struggling to pay school fees for them because I do not have a well-paying job. I am thrilled with the gesture and I am entirely grateful.

I am the sole breadwinner in my family. When my husband died, it was an enormous blow for me and my four children. I started working on other people’s farm to earn a living. Since then, I have struggled to keep my children in school as they constantly sent them home to pick school fees. The little I earn from my work is little and is enough to buy food for the family. With the drought, the farm jobs were scarce, and I started fetching water for people and later paid. I am paid KSH 30 for 1 jerrican. The money I earn is not enough to cater for all my needs and mind you, I do not do it daily. When I received the transfer, I spent KSH 700 to clear part of the debt for my children who are in primary school and were back home. The children had stayed home for two weeks and it was urgent for them to go back to school and continue with their education. I bought some 4 packets of maize flour with the remaining KSH 500. I did not have any food in my house and the flour would serve us well for the next few days.