I live on a small plot of land with my wife and our firstborn child, with our homestead taking up the majority of the land and the kitchen garden taking up the remainder. Since leasing a piece of land to farm on is incredibly expensive, I have relied on a motorcycle taxi business to support my family. Throughout this time, I have saved a portion of the taxi proceeds, though this has never been consistent. These savings will be useful for my new goal of purchasing additional land in the future, where we can practice subsistence farming.

GiveDirectly did an excellent job in our village, raising many poor families' living standards after they spent the transfers on their preferences. It was a fantastic job when we received a direct cash transfer that came directly into our accounts, making it easier for us to access and withdraw from the nearby mobile money shops. Everything was done so well that no one complained since the spending decisions were bestowed upon us, and they also did everything in accordance with our expectations right from the first meeting.

For the past three years, my family of three has been living in a simple hut that serves multiple functions. I had hoped to build a new one, but the income from my motorcycle taxi business was insufficient to cover both daily household expenses and the purchase of construction materials. We decided to carry out the construction we had planned before receiving the second transfer. I spent $7 on each of the 22 iron sheets, $40 on nails, and $50 on labor. We now have enough space for a partitioned bedroom, which makes me happy. I also finished interior decorating and purchased $150 pieces of comfortable furniture. Because my income from my motorcycle taxi has been inconsistent, I decided to spend the remaining funds on purchasing enough food for my family to last two months, and I continued to save from my daily earnings.

I felt so happy the moment I received money from GiveDirectly. It was around 6:30 pm and I had just come home after a hard day's motorcycle work. I shared the information with my wife who was equally very happy upon receiving the news. I became so happy that I was finally going to be able to put my plans into actions.

The biggest difference in my daily life since I started receiving payments from GiveDirectly is that Ii now have time to relax without being worried of how I will make ends meet. Before receiving the money I would always be on the run trying to accumulate enough money to be able to buy cooking flour and milk for my family. I am happy that I was finally able to buy a productive dairy cow and we are now in a position to save up to KES 300 per day which would otherwise have been used to buy milk and other needs.

I used KES 40000 to buy a dairy freshian cow and used another KES 10000 to buy maize for consumption and used the remainder to buy other family needs.I made a decision to buy a dairy cow since I did not have any and the cost of milk was going up each and every passing day. The freshian cow is currently producing 2 litres of milk up from 1 when I bought it. The dairy cow shall not only provide us with enough milk for local consumption but definitely we shall have surplus for sale to make more income.