My life is different from how it was in that, I have accomplished most of the goals that I had in mind. Owning most of the things and especially livestock has made me proud. This simply means that I will be able to take care of my needs easily but selling the product such as milk and when their is a need, I can sell the young ones. I feel that I will be able to take care of my financial needs better than rushing to take loans.

In my opinion, what stood out from the work that GiveDirectly did in our village was the way all of us got the money. They did not discriminate against anyone. The money really helped us to achieve our goals and I can attest that our living standards have increased.

I spent part of my transfer to purchase a dairy cow. I only have oxen. This has always made me buy a liter of milk from my neighbor at 40 KES which is normally expensive. Soon, we will enjoy ourselves with enough milk. Apart from that, I also bought five goats. My children are in the upper and lower classes. They are almost joining high school. I do not want to be stranded in paying their school fees and this is why I had to think of the future plan. Buying ten birds (hens) was also a good idea for the school fees project. I truly want to give them a better education and I thank GiveDirectly for being part of this. One of the goals that I wanted to achieve was also having better seats which I did managed. The remaining amount was spent on purchasing maize. The harvest from the last season was over and so I had to buy some to sustain us for a long period of time as we wait for the harvest.

The biggest difference in my daily life is that I am now a proud owner of a dairy cow. Even though I still buy milk daily, I am optimistic that this will end soon after it reproduces. Selling milk will also be a source of income to me that I will use to pay school fees for my children. I am also optimistic that my children's health will improve since they will be getting milk for their consumption and it will no longer be luxurious to us as it is now.

It was still very early in the morning when I received a message notification on my phone. Since I was already awake, I decided to read the message and know its contents. My heart was filled with happiness upon realizing that GiveDirectly had finally sent me the promised money. This money gave me hope that my life would never be the same again.

When I received my first transfer, I bought a dairy cow since it was my priority in the list. I am hoping that it will be calving soon and I will be able to save the money I would otherwise use in buying milk. Also, I bought some furniture majorly seats and a table and bought some decent clothes for my family. I channeled some amount on farming by hiring a tractor to till my farm and also bought maize seeds. I did all this in preparation for planting season. I am now glad since I will be among the first people to plant in my region and to take advantage of the short rains. I used the remaining amount to start a poultry keeping project by buying some chicken. I will be using the income from this project to pay for my children's school fees.