From the first time I heard about give directly, my main intention was to build a new house for myself. This is because the one I live in is old and on the verge of collapsing. Making it not safe. So, I used my third and a fourth transfer to buy some logs. Then with my fifth and sixth ones, I paid a builder for the construction of the house. In all, I have been using KES 2000. The balance that remained, I utilized in buying some food and water. The current drought situation in my area has pushed people to walk long distances to get water and since I have a leg injury, I always opt to pay someone to do it for me. I did not have funds for this because the school I worked in as a cook had not gotten any food donations rendering me jobless for two months and often, I would depend on my two children for some financial support.

In my opinion, GiveDirectly does well in terms of helping the needy in society. This has given us hope and we look forward to changing things around with our life. My current health status is a major challenge towards being able to work and fulfill my needs. With the help I get from GiveDirectly I have hope that I will be able to meet out my basic needs with the amount I am receiving.

The better part of last year was very tough for me and my family. The drought did hit us very hard in terms of our source of income. We depend heavily on our farms and without rain, it proved to be a challenge for us to earn a living and get food to it. To add salt to the injury I had an issue with my leg. It was swelling and this meant that it was not able to engage in very strenuous activities. When I received the transfer I spent KSH 1000 on buying food. I decided to do so since that was the major challenge I was facing at the moment. With no rain, it became very dry, and was very hard to find water. This prompted me to buy water from the vendors at very high prices. I spent the remaining KSH 200 buying water for my use at home. With my second transfer, I spent KSH 500 on my Chama. I decided to invest that amount of money so that I can be able to acquire a loan that I will use to build my house which is already falling due to weak surrounding poles. I also spent another KSH 500 in repaying a debt. During the tough times, I went ahead and bought some food on credit so that my children would not starve and also have the energy to go to school and write their exam papers. I also spent KSH 1000 to buy food for my family that we celebrated together with my family members over the festive season. At the end of last year, we started experiencing some light rains. This prompted me to use the remaining KSH 1000 to prepare the land and get it all ready for the planting season.

I received the text message at 11 am. I was from church praying. When I came back, I handed my phone to my youngest son who confirmed to me that I had received the transfer. I was very happy I quickly knelt and gave thanks to God for the miracle he had done for me.

The money has made a big difference to me. I was struggling with debts and on top of that, I did not have anything to eat. I was going through the hardest time of my life. With the money, I was able to purchase water which is a very rare commodity to find due to the drought situation. 

Since the beginning of the drought, it has been difficult for me to get water. Every time I go fetch water my legs swell over. The problem with my legs has been persistent for the past few months and this has left me unable to do heavy work. I can only depend on doing soft jobs and these jobs are not easy to come by. Struggling has been the order of the day for me and at times I get into debt so that I can be able to feed my children. Immediately after I received the transfer I spent KSH 500 in buying food for my family. I also spent KSH 200 buying water for use by the family. I also used KSH 500 in paying my debts.