Since I purchased the iron sheets with the second transfer my goal is to purchase other materials and build a better house for my family. I lived in a small house and I would be happy to own a better and decent house.

GiveDirectly does well by training the community before giving out the money. This enabled the community members to spend the transfer well. Most of the people were able to build better houses and buy daily cows. I do not find anything that GiveDirectly did not do well.

I spent KES 40,000 on purchasing iron sheets. I am planning on building a better and more spacious house. I live in a small old house. I have always wished to build a better house but I did not have the money to buy the building materials. I am so happy that I have purchased the iron sheets ready. I will start the construction once all the materials are there. I spent the remaining amount of money on food and household items.

I received the message confirmation of the transfer receipt when I was away from home as I had gone to look after my sick old mother who is also blind at the moment. The message warmed my heart as I had been anticipating receiving it over that week. With the plans in mind, I was happy to know that I would soon be initiating them. I never had any hurry of withdrawing as I had to get back home first so that I can see how best I could pick the planned task.

The biggest difference in my daily life after receiving my first transfer is the construction of a spacious house that currently accommodates all the members of my household. I had been looking forward to such a development but the inability to save due to the many responsibilities both on taking care of my elderly mother and also meeting all financial obligations of my household. I am now grateful that we are enjoying a clean and spacious room, unlike the previous one that was so squeezed.

With the many responsibilities I had been having raising my children, I have always found it hard to initiate the construction of a new house on the new piece of land that I bought some years back. I was lucky to have bought it with the already constructed hut but unfortunately, it had started leaking on the roof every time it rained. On receiving the first transfer, I opted to spend KES30000 on constructing a new one. It is now completed and we felt really good after moving in as it is spacious and also tidier than the previous one. I also settled a debt of KES 8000 with the shopkeeper, obtained a sack and half maize at KES 6000 that I found cheaper than the habitual small quantities I had been buying, and used the remaining amount on boosting the small grocery business I had been running in the nearby shopping center.