I had a dream of living in a permanently built house and this was just a dream to me. Today, I am proud that I now live in the house of my dream. I used to spend a lot of money in repair, but now it is a thing of the past. I will be able to divert such resources into a more productive projects like sugarcane farming and dairy farming which I have already started.

GiveDirectly has redeemed back hope to the less fortunate class in the society without discrimination. People have proved that, if they can be in possession of financial resources, they could say bye to poverty. The urban lifestyle has come back to the rural, people have bought solar panels for lighting and for electronic driven items. They could watch the global events at the comfort of their homes on their Television. They have taken their children to school and will be no child to be sent back home for school fees since their fees balance have been settled. The area that needs improvement is that, the organization should have come up with a plan of giving us support on the monthly basis. This could help those who are vulnerable for proper planning of their financial expenditures.

I had a semi permanent living structure, that has been expensive in terms of renovation. Every year, We had to spend 500 dollars on repair, yet, I have children in University who need my financial intervention. My dream was to built a permanent house but I could do that because of heavy family responsibilities, that require resources. Therefore when I received my second transfer, I spent it on completion of the house I was building from the first transfer.

I am a community health worker in our village and people used to talk ill on the kind of lifestyle I lead. It was embarrassing given that I am an opinion leader and I was staying more like a commoner in a very dilapidated house. My house was the talk of the village. You can imagine how I felt walking around giving advices to the people yet I have no value among them. It is saddening and heartbreaking at the same time. People thought my job was well paying just that I did not want to build my family a decent house. Such comments hurt, more so when they are not true. Thus, immediately I received my transfer, I used most of the transfer on building a decent, iron-roofed, spacious house. I am living a happy life because I am no longer rained on like it was before. I have gained some respect now and more confidence when doing my work in the village.

It was almost dawn and I heard my phone beep twice, I woke up immediately and checked the text message only to find an Mpesa message from GD. I was certain it was from them because this was the only source I was banking my hopes on for financial assistance after we were visited by their staff and informed so. I was very happy and could not even go further to check my mpesa balance not even the time it was. I could not catch sleep after that instead, I started planning on my mind how I will spend the money when morning comes.

I was staying in a grass thatched house which was seriously leaking when it rained thus I was going through tough times in my life. Sometimes I could look for polythene papers to cover some spaces on the roof so that my bedding does not soak. I had to cope with the situation because I had no income to improve my house, neither any assistance from no one was forthcoming. I was not blessed with any child to depend on financially like my neighbours. Everyone passing next to my home could not stop talking about my house, it was so pathetic that no one could imagine it was hosting a human being, I thank God, immediately I received my transfer from GD, I built a decent spacious iron roofed house. My life changed from that moment, I am sleeping without any worries of being rained on, my neighbours stopped talking ill of me and even those who never used to come to my house due to the status of the house then, can now come uninvited and share with me a cup of tea. Part of the money, I spent leasing piece of land where I want to use to grow sugarcane. Sugar cane has a ready market as I stay close to the factory. I believe when I do it well I will have bumper harvest which will enable me to get good financial returns hence improving my living stands.