My current goal is to continue supporting the education of my three children who are in primary school. They are required to pay at least KES 3,600 per academic term. Although I lack a defined source of income, the casual jobs that my husband and I do generate enough money to settle this amount. Education is the only investment they have for their future.

I commend Give Directly for designing a cash transfer program to benefit the most needy communities. From a personal view, the money has kept my children in school, put food on the table and provided a roof over my head. For this, I cannot see anything wrong that the organization does.

I had begun construction on a two-bedroom house when I received the second transfer. My former house had crumbled on the mud walls due to heavy rains, allowing the cold to enter at night. Only the roof was left to be built on the new structure. As a result, I spent KES 19,800 for wooden planks and hired a contractor to install the roofing iron sheets. In addition, I paid KES 4,000 to clear the outstanding fee school debt for my three primary school children so that they could study without being disrupted to collect the balances. I deposited KES 15,000 at the shop where we procure groceries that are usually billed at the end of each month. At least, I would be able to feed my family for the next two months without worrying about how I would pay off the accrued debt, given the meager income my husband and I get from our casual jobs of livestock raising and charcoal burning. Furthermore, I purchased a goat for KES 3,500. The idea is to allow it to reproduce so that I may sell them for an income in the future. Finally, I spent the remainder of the transfer on clothing. Considering the scarcity of cleaning water in my neighborhood, I purchased an extra pair of school uniforms for each of my children to guarantee they had enough clean ones to change.

It was around 5 in the evening when I was from the shop when I saw a message notification from my mobile phone. I was a bit in a hurry and never bothered to check who it was. A few minutes later, there was another notification popped in. I was so curious and decided to open the messages. I did not believe what I saw, it was an Mpesa message from GiveDirectly, I had finally received my first cash transfer. I was overwhelmed with joy knowing that I will finally build a decent house.

The biggest difference in my daily life is that I am glad all my three children are studying peacefully without any hiccups. They were always at home and most of the time they could not sit for their exams which has been forcing them to repeat the same classes. This has been demoralizing them and as a parent, it used to stress me a lot. I desired to see them get a better education for them to have a brighter future but this was not achievable because of my financial status. I have been selling charcoal and the little I earned (KES 100) per day could barely satisfy my basic needs. My house has also been dependent on temporary jobs and most of the days, he was always at home. I am happy that I was able to send all my children to school which is an assurance that they will be able to sit for their exams which their friends. I am grateful to GiveDirectly for restoring our lost hope and joy in life, may God bless the entire organization.

I spent part of my first transfer on buying building materials such as twenty-four pieces of iron sheets, building poles at a total of 22800, and the labor charges of KES 15000. I had intended to construct a new house because the previous one was not spacious enough and in critical condition. During the winter seasons, we could move from one compound to the other to seek shelter. This was because of the old roof which could leak excessively causing damages and losses. In addition to that, I cleared a debt of KES 8000 to a friend and I now have peace of mind. Also, I paid school fees of 4000 for my three kids in primary school. They have been on and off because of the arrears which used to affect their performance. With the remaining amount of money, I bought foodstuffs for my family and other household items