I had really wanted to attain financial independence. I used to sell water to the local school from my home. I would ride my bicycle with the water all the way to school and take the water then get back home as it was my only source of money. I used to get 400 shillings a day for the water which would most times be paid at the end of the month or even after a couple of months. This would really put a strain on my family. I was not able to provide food sufficiently for my family. I wanted to begin a boda boda business which would help me make money even when the school hadnt paid me. I also wanted to get cows for milk since buying milk is a good business and i felt I would greatly profit from it.

Give directly has greatly benefitted me. I am now self reliant financially. My family will never go hungry because I have a business with a constant income. I am also able to sort school fees for my young ones, in advance meaning that I can focus on doing much more for the family. My also has also a good income from her vegetable sales which is much more than she used to get. I cannot complain about the services I have gotten from give directly of the transfers as there isnt nothing to complain about.

I used my first transfer together with some money I had to buy a boda boda at 70,0000 shillings. This bodaboda has been good to me as I am able to make some good money out of it. I normally make the most money especially on market days. On days that aren't market such as Tuesdays I make 400 shillings on market days I make upto 2800 on a good day and 1000 shillings on a bad day. The bodaboda has also made it that we can now make significant profits my wife's vegetable business. We would sell it to buyers who would buy from us at 300 shillings to 400 shillings in the farm due to the lack of means of transport to take it to the market. Now I sell it directly to vegetable vendors at 800 shillings and it's only costs me 100 shillings to fuel the bodaboda. The second transfer went into buying cows. I felt that I could make a profitable business out of buying cows. I bought cows that would need around an additional one year to fully mature but I believe that in a year's time I will be able to breed the cows for calves which will in turn lead to production of milk. My children are able to get a meal consistently as a result of the money you have given me and I am also able to for school fees even in advance for my school going child.

I was busy ferrying water to the school when I met with my neighbor who informed me that he had already received his transfer from GiveDirectly and was rushing to the Mpesa shop to cash it out. As I was wondering why I had not received mine, I heard a message alert on my phone and I quickly fished it out hoping that it was the Mpesa message from GD. My heart was filled with joy and I immediately knew that my life would never be the same again after confirming the receipt.

I would carry 60 liters of water to school in one trip using the bicycle and I would at times slide and be forced to seek help from the passersby. This was tiresome and time-consuming since I had to make not less than 10 trips in a day and pushing the bike uphill is not an easy task. With the motorcycle that I recently acquired using my transfer, my work has been made easier and I now make 5 trips. This has enabled me to earn extra money at the end of the day unlike before since I always offer taxi services to people after I am through with my daily routine of supplying water to the school in the morning.

I spent the amount that I recently received from GiveDirectly to buy a motorcycle after topping up some amount. I have a tender to supply clean water to a neighboring school and I have been using a bicycle to do this. This is tiresome and time-consuming and I usually end up doing this work alone in a day. I am now grateful that my work has been made easier and I get enough time to relax and even offer taxi business in the neighborhood.