since I have been depending on casual jobs the money I was getting was not enough to cater to my family's basic needs ad also pay their school fees. Education is a basic right for every child to access, this really stressing me as a parent. After receiving the transfers, I managed to send some to and paid school fees for some and this assures me of good results. This is because they will no longer be distracted by being sent home any time soon due to untimely payment of school fees. This makes my life to be different and I am hoping that my children generation shall b bright courtesy of GiveDirectly.

In opinion, GiveDirectly does well by giving us the transfers unconditionally. Everyone was asked to choose on his or her own on what we would spend the money on. Secondly, the staff gave us a lot of information and educated on how to secure our money to avoid the issue if theft. This helped us because such cases were rares. I do not see any sector GD failed us.

I spent part of my second transfer on paying school fees and buy uniforms and all stationery for my son who was to join the secondary school this year. I then bought new clothes for my children and mine because the previous ones were old and torn. The remaining amount of money, I bought enough foodstuffs for my family and some other household items that I was lacking.

Owning the pair of oxen has greatly improved my farming since I am able to prepare and cultivate much early than I used to do, which makes the biggest difference in my daily life. Initially, I used to own a pair but I sold them later on in order to clear school fees for my children so that they would be allowed back to school. Since then I have been hiring from my neighbors during the planting season which was very expensive to me. Sometimes I could not afford to cultivate my whole acreage because I wasn't able to meet the full cost of hiring the services. I had no option but to use the hoes by myself which was very tiresome and the harvest was just a handful. However, my life is currently different because, through this money, I managed to purchase the new pair of oxen which means I will no longer be hiring from anyone, instead, I will be hiring them at a fee. I will also be ploughing and cultivating my whole acreage and get plenty of harvests, which will ensure food security for my family.

It was around 6 a.m when I heard a loud vibration on my phone, an alert of an incoming message. At first, I ignored the message but then I was curious to know who could have sent the message early that morning. When I checked its contents, I was greatly overjoyed because I had finally received my first transfer from GiveDirectly as they had promised us earlier.

I spent part of my first transfer on buying pieces of iron sheets, building poles, nails and timber in order to renovate my house which was almost collapsing, its roof was leaking during rains. It was also not spacious enough to accommodate us all of which forced some of my children to sleep at my neighbor's houses at night. I managed to rebuild it and built an extension to make it more spacious and currently, I am living comfortably with my family. I also used to own a pair of oxen which helped a lot in ploughing my farm timely and even for my neighbors' farms at a fee, but I later on sold them to sort out some financial problems I was facing. Thus on receiving this transfer, I bought a new pair of oxen, which I am looking forward to use it to improve on my farming again. Apart from these, I also spent a portion of the money to pay for my sons' school fees who is currently in high school. He had been staying home for about two weeks due to the fee arrears. I am now at peace that he is comfortable in school. I spent the remaining amount to purchase daily foodstuffs for my family and some other household items.