The thought of constructing a new house, paying school fees, and even providing for my family was almost impossible in the previous months as neither my husband nor I had a reliable job. I am always grateful that I am part of the GiveDirectly project that has brought great changes in my household right from the completion of a spacious new house to the stocking of enough foodstuff to keep us going for some months as we work on other projects that can earn us other income.

In my opinion, GiveDirectly did a great job enrolling each household within the village both young and old. The process was carried out in a great way that after educating us on how best we can handle ourselves once we receive the money for the in-house visits where we provided all the required details, and the responses to the questions they were asking. The officers were respectful and gave us enough time to ask questions to exhaustion. From what has been going on in the village, no one is complaining at all but instead appreciative of the great work done.

Even though buying milk in my household had been a norm for quite a long time, dry seasons had been straining us financially as the milk prices normally rise forcing us to spend beyond our means. Without any livestock in my field, buying milk had been in my budget for the whole family of six. On receiving the first transfer, I never put livestock purchase as a priority as I had other goals to accomplish first. I then spent KES36000 of the second transfer in purchasing two heifers each at KES18000. The two will hopefully grow to soon serve us with enough milk to satisfy both our household usage within the house and also a surplus to sell as an additional source of income. I also purchased a bale with 12 packets of 2kgs corn flour at KES1200 that shall keep us going for some months before we source more. With the remaining amount, I paid KES9000 towards school fees for my three children and saved the remaining to be checking and replenishing other household goods.

It was around 9 AM when I was in my house dressing my youngest child when I saw a notification on my phone. On checking, I realized it was the cash transfer message from GiveDirectly. I felt happy because I knew the problem of poor shelter will finally have a permanent solution.

For many years I have been spending sleepless night due the poor condition of my shelter. I have wished to own a decent house for my family but due to my financial challenges, I could not construct a new one. The biggest different in my daily life is that I am now living in a comfortable and spacious house with my family unlike before.

I spent larger part of my transfer to construct a two roomed iron roofed house for my family. This is because the one I had was grass-thatched and leaks. During rain season I am forced to sleepless night shifting my beddings from one area to another. I spent $270 to purchase 22 iron sheets, building pole, timber and labour cost. Also, I use $ 60 to clear fees balance for my children. With the remaining part of my transfer, I saved it for any financial emergency.