I don't have a reliable job and I have been working in construction sites when opportunities come by and this has denied me opportunity to build my family a decent home. The one which we have been living in is in a very poor condition and can collapse anytime. My worry has been losing my family through this tragedy facing us but the meager wages averaging KES 2000 per month couldn't afford to build a house or do any kind of repair as I couldn't afford cement. I was lucky to be enrolled in the program together with my wife who has also been receiving transfer and she supported me in my new project where I started building a house. With both our monthly transfers averaging to KES 6000 per month, we have been building a house for the last six months and we are almost completing it. I'm very grateful for the support as we can't wait to move to our new house with our three children in a months time

What GiveDirectly does well is giving us unconditional cash transfers but I would suggest they give us the money in lumpsums so that we can have a better planning with it.

My children were send home three weeks before I received my transfers, since I didn't have a job, I had given up on them but I was feeling pain that they were not going to sit for their end term exam with other kinds. I spend all my last months transfer to clear the fees arrears and I'm happy that my children were able to do their exams and they have proceeded to the last term of the year.

I was helping in the construction of my colleagues house since it was a part time job of mine and his house happened to have collapsed. The message came in at around eight in the morning and I was happy and shocked at the same time because this entire time I thought that it was true but they proved me wrong.

This money has helped in boosting me financially because I have casual jobs but nothing permanent but this money comes in handy because now I can pay fees for my children and even managed to buy a goat which has been a want of mine for the longest time just did not have enough money and I had to prioritise on what was the important.

The drought this year was quite extreme especially in the village because we barely received a drop of rain and this led to most crops dying and in turn we barely had any food in our houses. Therefore after I received the money I went ahead and bought a bag of maize flour which contained twelve packets which cost KES 1100 accompanied with two kilograms of beans at KES 200. Then one of my kids had been sent home from school and had lasted one week home without resuming classes because I had no money so after I received the money I paid KES 500 for his education. Lastly I decided to buy I goat so that I could rear which cost me KES 1,300.