In every aspect of life, family comes first, and to make them happy, all their needs should be met. I am glad to have provided most of their needs except shelter. To make this a success, I plan on constructing a spacious two-room house to accommodate my family of nine. At the moment, we live in a one-room makuti-roofed house that often leaks during rainy seasons, and I am now worried that my family's health might be affected. I have already manufactured enough bricks to initiate this project, and I am hopeful that all will be well and my family will have a decent shelter.

What is better than lifting the entire village out of poverty? Nothing, right? I am glad that GiveDirectly has improved the lives of my community by giving unconditional cash transfers to every eligible household in the village, and now a noticeable change is evident. I will only wish for the organization to prolong the program in the affected communities by offering more transfers to support other pressing needs that might not have been covered by the current transfers.

When my son completed his grade twelve studies, he was not in a position to pick up his secondary school certificate because of $90 in school fee arrears. This has hampered his progress and prevented him from furthering his studies. I had to take up full family responsibility after my husband fell sick and became incapacitated. To support the family of nine, I took up construction jobs, which earn me $5 on a good day; otherwise, I can stay for up to a fourth night without any income because such jobs are scarce and rare to find. All this goes towards food for the household, and I have no surplus. I am glad that the transfers came in handy as I cleared the arrears, and now he has his certificate. Besides the 2-room makuti house, which leaks during rainy seasons, I constructed another 1-room iron-roofed house for $100. I am happy that my family lives comfortably, irrespective of the season. For the rest of the transfers, I purchased food for the household.

I had a busy day attending a parent meeting at the nearby private school where my sixth-born child is learning. For all that time, I did not have time to interact with the phone. After arriving home, I heard our neighbours narrating how they received their transfer. Because I am illiterate, I gave the phone to my daughter who checked and discovered that I had received the transfer like others. I felt extremely happy and rejoiced with my family for receiving the transfer.

Being able to complete the payments of the school fees for my eldest son who was completing secondary school is the biggest difference in my life. Previously, I had to venture into casual labour jobs in the construction industry which is a male dominant job to support the education of our kids. In addition, my daughters are enjoying their nights sleeping on proper bedding. Nowadays, they are no longer complaining of body pain every morning.

I spent $100 to support the education of my first-born son who was in form 4. He had a huge fee balance that was hindering him to do his final exam. Currently, he was able to complete her studies and is looking forward to joining the university this year. In addition, I used $30 to purchase a bigger solar system to supply enough lighting for the house. Previously, we were using a small lamp that could not provide enough light at night. Similarly, I used $45 to purchase a new mattress for the 2 daughters who were using a small ripped mattress which was not comfortable. With the remaining amount, I use to make 2200 bricks that I will use to construct a new house for myself. This is because we are sharing the same room with my 4 daughters of age between 18 to 16 years, which is against our traditions.