My son who's yet to sit for his national exams come the end of this year has been showing exemplary performance in his studies and I am confident he will pass with flying colors. Therefore there's a need to look for funds right now to sponsor his university education come next year.

In my opinion, GiveDirectly does well to put a smile on every villager's face because nowadays every family can afford a decent meal and clothing which we couldn't afford before. GiveDirectly also did well to send us well-trained officers who advised us well on how to utilize and secure our money accordingly.

My late husband was a businessman, a dairy farmer, and a landowner but suffered from high blood pressure for nearly twenty years. While soliciting for his treatment, we lost his business, all our land, and all dairy cows but to no avail because he succumbed to the illness 10 years ago. As fate would have it, a relative who is a good Samaritan gave me an acre of land to take care of my four kids. Firstly, I started a rope knitting business and secured a househelp job from which I earned KES 100 from each making an income of KES 200 per day. Due to these meager earnings, sometimes we were forced to eat a meal a day or sleep hungry at times. My kids also used to be in and out of school due to a lot of school fees arrears making it difficult for them to concentrate on their studies. But when GiveDirectly transfers came, I felt a sense of relief. I, therefore, used KES 20,000 on clearance of my son's school fees arrears which had lasted for four years since he was in form one and now he is his fourth form. Also to ensure the availability of adequate food for my family, I bought three bags of maize at KES 12,000. Through this, we can now afford to eat three meals a day. Last but not least, I also topped part of my transfer and bought the eighth piece of land which will be a source of food for my family because earlier I used to rely on sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and indeginous vegetable farming to get an income as well.

It was still early in the morning and I was with my family having breakfast when I received a message alert on my phone. I decided to check it since I was not busy and I became so happy when I read the Mpesa message and for being part of those who qualified for the financial aid from GiveDirectly.

I operate a grocery business within the neighborhood and the money I usually earn is not enough to pay school fees for my children and to buy food for the family. Being a widow, life was tough and we had to skip some meals at times. Being able to buy a dairy cow is a big achievement to me since apart from getting milk for our consumption, I will be selling some to earn an income that I can use in paying school fees for my children.

Buying milk has been my routine and I usually end up spending KES 50 on them apart from other foodstuffs like maize flour. This was costly to me as I depend on a grocery business that I operate in the neighborhood. On receiving my transfer, I spent KES 30000 to buy a heifer and used KES 20000 to pay school fees for my children who had been sent back home. I am glad that I no longer buy milk as I did before since I now get them from this dairy cow. I spent the remaining KES 4000 on food and other household necessities.