In the coming year and beyond, my primary focus is on building a spacious one-room house with a verandah. Our current house is quite small, and with two boys who are quickly approaching adulthood, it's becoming clear that they will soon need their own space and privacy, especially to have a room where they can relax and spend time with their friends. Right now, this isn't possible since we all share the same room. To make this dream a reality, I joined a merry-go-round savings group, where I diligently save $20 each month toward building this new house. I'm grateful that I’ve never missed a payment, thanks to the consistent support from GiveDirectly. I truly appreciate the financial assistance they’ve provided. Once the new house is built, my husband and I will move into it, leaving our current home for the boys. I'm optimistic that we will achieve this goal, especially with the strong support from my spouse.

I have two boys at home, and they are growing up quickly. Before long, they will be adults, and since we currently share a one-room house, my spouse and I thought it would be wise to build another house. This way, we can provide our boys with the privacy and space they will soon need. To make this goal a reality, I joined a merry-go-round savings group, where I set aside part of my transfer each month. With my most recent transfer, I allocated $60 to savings in our group, specifically for this building project. The remaining $42 was spent on buying food for the family. It’s always a priority for me to ensure we have food in the house, which allows me to focus on finding more ways to support my family without worrying about immediate needs.

I'm setting aside money from my transfers to purchase building materials for expanding my cramped one-room house into a two-room dwelling. It's a significant improvement I've been longing for. Progress has been made as I've already acquired 20 iron sheets, completing that phase of the project. Now, I'm ready to move forward with the next step which is buying building poles and eventually complete the house extension. Thereafter, my ultimate goal is to eventually venture into livestock farming and purchase goats with my transfers, anticipating they'll multiply, allowing me to trade them for cows.

Given our cramped one-room house, my priority has been to expand it to accommodate our growing family. With my husband, child, and I all sharing the same room, it is becoming increasingly unsuitable as our child grows. I saved $60 from my transfers in our savings group, hoping that when it matures and our shares are divided, I'll finally be able to build the house I've been dreaming of. Since our harvested food supplies were depleted, I had to allocate $38 to purchase food for my family. Lastly, I used the remaining $4 to pay school fees for my child, ensuring there are no interruptions to their education due to financial constraints.

I am in a savings group which I attribute entirely to my being enrolled in Givedirectly program. Being in this savings group have ignited dreams that for me were long lost until the program began. My family of four lives in one room house which is very small that we do not have enough space to have a living room and a sleeping area. I now, through this transfers and saving them have started on a project of building a two room house for my family. I now have 14 Irons sheets already purchased and I plan to purchase more until they are enough and then embark on buying building poles.

Givedirectly transfers have brought such a huge change in our community, one of this changes that I really appreciate is the ability for many of us to save. Myself and 1=12 other community members formed a savings group where we save $10 monthly. So in the last three months I have saved $10 to my savings group. In November I paid some accrued debts at the shop which was $10 and then used the $14 to slowly buy food as needs arose throughout the month. In December, I spent $14 also on food but sent $10 to my husband who at the time was really struggling financially as work was not as forthcoming at the time. In January I paid a tailor for clothes that I had given him to make during the holidays at $10, I also used the rest of the cash on food again as needs arose throughout the month.

My current residence is quite small and lacks ample space. Currently, I am in the process of saving $20 each month with the goal of constructing a two-room extension, which will require a total of 18 iron sheets. So far, I have managed to purchase 14 iron sheets through the financial assistance I've received. I am sincerely grateful to GiveDirectly for making this possible through their generous transfers. I am optimistic that, as I continue to accumulate savings, I will be able to acquire the remaining iron sheets and the necessary building poles to commence construction. The prospect of having a more spacious house holds immense significance for me, as it means that my children will no longer have to seek shelter from neighbours at night.

My current residence is insufficiently spacious to comfortably accommodate my children, and I've always had a plan to expand it by adding two additional rooms. This extension would provide the necessary room for my children to live under one roof. To undertake this project, I needed 18 pieces of iron sheets and building poles. To kickstart the construction process, I decided to participate in a savings group where I diligently saved my transfers. I am delighted to share that I've managed to purchase 14 iron sheets through this consistent saving effort. Over the past few months, I've saved approximately $80, and my earnest hope is to commence the construction soon. This will alleviate the stress my children face when searching for shelter from neighbors during the night. Furthermore, I took $20 from my savings to pay my children's school fees in advance, ensuring their uninterrupted education. Additionally, I spent $8 to settle some outstanding debts that had accrued due to purchasing household items on credit. I am now at peace knowing that I am debt-free, a situation that would have taken months to achieve without the assistance of these transfers. Lastly, with the remaining funds, I invested in purchasing essential household items that I previously lacked, including toiletries and personal necessities. This has contributed to an improved quality of life for my family.

I am working on expanding my house. As you can see I have been buying iron sheets which I have been saving towards building and expanding my house. I have a family of 4 and my husband’s casual labour or my burning and selling of charcoal has not provided funds sufficient to redirect any extra money on adding to our house and I hope Givedirectly transfers will help me achieve this goal.

I have been spending my last transfers in a somewhat uniform way. I monthly spend some money in buying iron sheets, paying school fees and buying on food. I changed this patter in may when I was planting and spent $6 on hiring an ox-plough for the same and buying uniform for my children at $4. I spend approximately $10 on iron sheet, $10 on food and $10 on school fees and this has been my spending for all the other months.

I'm hoping that by the end of the year, I'll have purchased enough materials for building, particularly iron sheets, to erect a decent and spacious home for my family. We need to build additional house because the two rooms where we presently live are pretty small and uncomfortable, and it will have ample study area for my two school-age children. Additionally, I intend to invest in a goat that I will raise with the intention of selling it for a profit in the future.

Every time I got my monthly transfer, I spent about $10 on iron sheets. This is in preparation of building a bigger house for my family of four. We had been wanting to expand our current small house, but finding the money to do so has proven difficult. I used the remaining money to buy food and other necessities for us and ensure that my two kids, a fifth-grader and a seventh-grader are comfortable.

According to me, GiveDirectly did a good job by ensuring that they visited every household without any discrimination. The enrollment process was also fairly and freely conducted for each and everyone of us. I do not see anything that needs to be changed so far.

I spent $10 of my recent transfer to purchase iron sheets. I have been planning to renovate my house by adding an extra room which will be for my children, considering they are currently sheltering at their grandmother's house. I believe that I will be able to accomplish this project in five months. Also, I had to pay school fees of $16 for my two children in grades one and four respectively. I am so happy that they are now settled with fewer disturbances in school. With the remaining cash, I bought food for my four family members which took us almost one week.

I was very excited when I received the first transfer as it meant that I would finally solve the challenge of getting a solar lamp. My children strained while doing their studies which affected their eyes because the lantern lamp we had was faulty. When I received a confirmation message of the receipt of the transfer, I thanked God for it was a blessing.

I am glad the money helped me solve the challenge of getting a new lamp. Seeing my children strain to do their studies troubled me. They are passionate about their studies and the least I can do is to provide the necessary resources. I have a small business while my spouse does casual work that is available in our village but our income can barely afford a whole day’s meal. I am thankful to GiveDirectly and I believe my children will peacefully carry on with their studies.

I bought a solar lamp worth KES 550 with the first transfer. I had a faulty lantern lamp and besides, it was costly to purchase kerosene every day. My children no longer strain during their studies because the solar lamp is bright enough for our room. I also bought some of the foodstuffs since our household did not have any more left. The money was a reliever as it would have taken us days to meet some of these needs.