After the construction of a new house for my family of five and settling school fees for my three children, I now have a new goal to obtain new pieces of furniture to replace the old wooden benches that I had been using in the previous hut. I have been working hard on my farm and putting aside some savings towards the purchase of more comfortable seats and a decent table from the local carpentry.

In my opinion, the initial teaching before enrollment was an eye-opener to every village member who had attended the meeting since most could not understand how the project would be running. It is amazing how GiveDirectly was able to deliver on all the promises they had made and within the timelines that they had given as well. Everyone is so grateful and it is our wish that other organizations and even the government will learn from this program whenever they are giving out any aid.

I spent the second transfer on the completion of the construction of a new house that I had initiated with the first transfer. I had to still spend KES 6000 on fixing a door and the windows that were still missing. At the moment we have moved out of the old kitchen with my family of five to a new house that can comfortably accommodate us. I also equipped my elder son currently in college with the school requirements that he needed worth KES 20000, paid KES 5000 school fees the second one currently in secondary school, and also the tuition fees of KES 1000 for the younger one in primary school. I paid a cumulative KES 15000 to the constructor that was working on the new house and spent the remaining KES 6000 on obtaining foodstuff and other household goods that we were missing then.

I was from fetching water for domestic use at the river when I heard my phone ring. I decided to check and read the message before continuing with my chores and upon reading that I was KES 55000 richer, I became so happy and immediately knew that my son would finally join a college as we had planned. I am so grateful to have been among the lucky people to receive their transfer on time.

Starting the construction of a new house is so far the biggest difference in my daily life apart from it being the biggest accomplishment I have made this year after living in an old house with a leaking roof for a very long time. Sleeping in this house has been a disaster to us during the rainy season as we have to wake up in the middle of the night to shift from one place to another to avoid being rained on. I am grateful to GiveDirectly for this support and I am hoping to achieve more once I received the second transfer.

The construction of a new house after receiving my first transfer came as a priority since the house we used to live in had a leaking roof. This used to force us to move our belongings from one corner to another whenever it rained and sleeping at night was a challenge as we would get rained on. So far, I have spent KES 25000 on iron sheets, building poles, nails and paid KES 5000 for the labor force. The construction of this house has enabled me to relax since I am no longer going to the river to fetch water for domestic use as I can harvest rainwater and I am happy about this. Also, I am glad that I will be sleeping comfortably in my new house very soon. In addition to this, I spent KES 20000 to pay school fees for my son who was joining college since I did not have other means of getting money, and using the remaining KES 4700, I bought some food and school uniforms for my children.