I have a piece of land had bought before being enrolled in this support program. My goal is to save as much from my business and start building single rooms. The plot is 50X100 and can take up to five rooms. If I were to accomplish building the single rooms, I would rent for $15, which would be $75 every month. With my current business and another source of income. I believe I would be financially stable.

Give Directly has done well in giving out the lump sum amount in this village. The funds have been a big impact on the society, especially during the hard economic time and drought. Most of us were working and earning not enough to provide a meal for the family at least every day. It was impossible to even buy clothes because all the cash earned was used to buy food and water. I am grateful the program came to my village and I am among the beneficiaries who managed to open a business using the funds which is the biggest difference in my life. I would wish for the organization to visit as many villages as they can afford to support and not to do anything different. I can attest that Give directly has changed so many lives!

I am married with one child and currently live with my mother. I was working as a motorbike rider before I got enrolled in the program. The pay was about $3 daily, which was quite a struggle to budget for my family. After receiving my first cash transfer, I was optimistic and opened a grocery with $400. I also bought a wooden bed and a mattress for $90; it was time because for the longest time; I didn't own a bed, and the mattress was old and worn out. The remaining $60 was used to buy food because I was careful not to consume the grocery stock. Business picked up and when I received the second transfer, I used $480 to buy more stock for the grocery and expanded my business by opening a vegetable stall with the remaining $50. This has enabled my business to increase in profit because of the demand for vegetables in the area.

While relaxing at home, I received a message at around 8 am. I took the initiative of checking immediately since I was not engaged in anything serious. Upon checking, my heart melted in joy and happiness due to the kind of message I had received. This was the first transfer from GiveDirectly. My mind felt a bigger relief since I knew that the plans I had were going to be successful.

Initially, I had no defined kind of job or work that could enable me to earn an income. I relied on casual labor which was also not promising, that is it was not a daily guarantee that I would get one. As of now, I am very happy and thankful for having a business that generates an income for me. Much appreciation for GiveDirectly for enabling me to reach this height in life.

The only thing that I had planned from the day I was registered by the GiveDirectly officers was to invest in a shop business so that I could have some income-generating activity that will make me go. When I withdrew the money, I used KES 50000.00 as the capital and started the shop business. I made sure that the shop is equipped with all the fast-moving goods and the highly demanded products in the community. Thereafter, I took KES 4000.00 and bought a mattress since the one I had was worn-out.