I had to sell most of my assets, including a cow, after receiving the second transfer to fund the purchase of a piece of land. After my husband passed on 10 years ago, raising my two children on a small piece of land has not been easy. I am happy that the land has given more space for farming, thus more food for the family. At the moment, I have a new goal to buy back a dairy cow that can provide enough foodstuff for my household. The cost of buying milk has always been a challenge since I sold the only cow I had, but I hope to build my savings and later buy one that will cut the cost.

GiveDirectly did well in our village not only for me but also in other households that received the transfer. Everyone used to struggle to provide for their children and living under poor conditions was common in every household. The idea of free cash transfer solved most of the challenges and everyone feels good after spending on the new projects of their choice. I am at peace with my family now and even though I am still struggling after selling my cow; I find it better that I have a wider place to farm.

I have been living with my two children since my husband passed on 10 years ago. Since then, life has never been easy since I have had to provide everything they need, including their school fees. Providing household foodstuff has been hard too since the piece of land he left us with was too small to practice extensive farming. On receiving the second transfer, I saw it was good to sell the only cow I had and used the outcome in buying a piece of land worth KES 80000 after combining it with the transfer. At the moment, I am preparing for the planting season, which I believe will maintain the availability of foodstuff in the future.

It was early in the morning when I received a message from GiveDirectly as I was relaxing at home while attending to my visitor who had come visiting. I heard my phone vibrating from where I had kept it but could not bother checking, but as soon as my visitor left, I could not resist the urge to know the content of the message. It was a great moment for me and I could not hold back the expression of the excitement I had after reading the Mpesa message. I thanked God for the promise that had just been honored by GiveDirectly that would change my life for good.

My husband passed on when my children were still young and I was left with the responsibility of bringing them up alone. As a subsistence farmer, financial constraints have been a major challenge to me. It had always been my wish to build a spacious house that can accommodate us comfortably but had not been able to achieve this as I had decided to deal with paying school fees for my children first as they're always my priority. With the transfer, I was able to pay school fees for my children and build a more spacious house. I am happy that very soon, I will not be sleeping in the same room with my chicken as we have been doing since I am almost through with the construction work. This has made my life different as I am happier than before and I thank God for making this possible through GiveDirectly.

I used to live in a small house that could not accommodate us comfortably. Because of this, we had to sleep in the same room with the chickens and our clothes always had the smell of soot. This always made me fear welcoming people to my home since they would not have a place to sleep comfortably. On receiving my transfer, I decided to spend KES 38000 to build a more spacious house for my family and I am glad that I have been able to achieve this. In addition, I spent KES 15000 to pay school fees for my children who had been sent back home and KES 2000 to buy food for my family.