In my opinion GiveDirectly does well in terms of helping the needy in the society. I also like the selection criteria which is unbiased and everybody in the village has an equal chance to be enrolled into the program.

I have two grands kids who had been sent home due to school fees arrears. When I received my first transfer I spent KSH 500 to pay some part of the arrears so that they would go back to school. Their father who works in town mainly doing casual jobs had not been able to get any job and thus had no money to pay for his children. I am happy that my grandkids were able to sit for their end of term exams and passed them well. Due to the long drought that we have been facing in our area, water is a scarce commodity and one has to walk for very long kilometers to find water. With my age I am unable to walk these long distances and I had to purchase water which is very expensive. A 20 liter jerican goes for KSH 50. I also purchased some soap and some food for my family. When I received my second transfer I spent KSH 1500 in paying school fees for my grandkids. I then saved the rest of the money in a Chama. My aim is to continue saving the money for a period of one year. Once the period is over I will use the money to start a money generating project such as starting a business of my own. Once the business is up and running I will be able to attend to my needs and that of my family.

I can barely remember what I was up to that morning but after I found out that I had received money I became very emotional because I did not expect it at all and we were having financial issues at home but I was also filled with euphoria because it was like God himself had heard and answered my prayers.

Through this funds I managed to pay my grandsons tuition fee and he went back to school which made me glad because it was stressing me out seeing him back home and knowing that I did not have the financial capability to pay his school fees so the funds were definitely a game changer in our lives.

I happen to stay with and take care of my grandson who I have been looking after ever since he was a toddler because my daughter decided to remarry. Therefore he has been my responsibility and during the time the money was sent my grandson had not been to school for almost two days, so the first thing I did was pay for half of his tuition so they would allow him to attend class and I ended up paying KES 500. Then since my spouse and I both received the transfers we took care of different issues in the house and mine included nutririon so I bought five bags of maize flour worth KES 500 so that we would have a meal. As for what I was left with I bought laundry detergent worth KES 200.