For the first time now, I have managed to take my son to high school. Previously, my children would finish their primary school and stay at home or do casual jobs at a young age due to lack of money. I have now educated him through this money and I believe he will complete his studies. I also have livestock which includes goats and a heifer which I am currently keeping in my homestead. I am expecting the heifer to reproduce and have many of them. I will be getting milk from this heifer for my family's consumption and I can even sell the surplus and earn an income.

GiveDirectly does well in improving our lives because we can now comfortably access good shelter unlike before when our homes were in pathetic situations. In addition, we also own livestock which would have taken years to buy them. These are assets to us that we can sell and help us in case of a financial problem. I do not see anything that GiveDirectly does not do well.

I had begun constructing a new house but I was stuck in the process since I lacked the money to accomplish this. When I received my second transfer, I spent part of it on purchasing the remaining materials which include some iron sheets, timber and nails and paid for the labour cost. In addition to this, I also bought a cow at KES 15000 which I am currently keeping in my homestead. I am keeping this cow so that as it reproduces and have many of them, I can readily rely on the offspring in case of any financial crisis. I also spent KES 20000 to pay for school fees for my children for them to continue with their studies without any interruptions.

The biggest difference in my daily life is that for the first time in my life, I will be sheltering in my own iron-roofed house, after living in a grass-thatched hut for many years with no hopes of upgrading to a better house. Considering the financial hardships I had undergone, from hand to mouth life, I am now in the process of constructing a new house courtesy of GiveDirectly. I had longed to build but my hopes were slowly fading away since scarce resources could not allow me to realize my goal. I am happy and thankful to GiveDirectly because, for the first time, I will be sheltering in an iron-roofed house.

I had already woken up to attend to my maize farm at around 6 am when I heard my phone ringing of message notification. I called my helper who confirmed to me that I had received my first transfer. I felt happy for the money since I knew it would change my life completely. I had wished for long to build a better house but I could n't due to limited resources. I knew the money from GiveDirectly would help me to buy for building a new house for my family.

I spent a large portion of first transfer to purchase building materials which include iron sheets, nails and building poles in order to build a new house. My intention is to build a new decent and spacious house to live in with my family comfortably. I have been living in a small house that is in a bad state and due to lack of resources, I was not able to renovate it or build a new one. I am grateful to GiveDirectly because their financial support has enabled me to acquire building materials which if I was to buy them at my own cost, then I wouldn't have afforded. I also bought five goats which I am keeping in my homestead. To me its a saving for the future of my young children's education. I know once they reproduce and increase in number, I will be able to sell to help me out of rising financial problems. I spent the remaining amount to cater for the needs of my household and other expenses.