I would love to open a business selling both male and female clothing, as well as children's apparel. The plan would be to set it up somewhere very near my home, limiting expenses such as transport. Keep it to a maximum of a distance of about 1 km or so, from the house. Capital would set me back about Kes. 40, 000, which would then allow me to make more income to cater for my six kids , wife and my needs. I'm believing that this too shall come to pass if I stay persistent and focused.

GiveDirectly excel at identifying people in need and finding innovative and empowering ways of making sure they get the assistance they need. Beneficiaries of these transfers around my home have all built, or bought cows, or found other ways to make sure the funds go into sustainable and profitable avenues. GiveDirectly have made all this possible, while doing so with integrity, grace and kindness. I pray they continue to do so for years to come.

The transfer allowed me to buy a bodaboda as well as rebuild my house. I was living in a thatched house, but having received the funds from GiveDirectly, I was able to rebuild my house out of corrugated iron sheets. Not only are we more secure in our housing as a family, but it also elevated our status a bit and made us feel we are living in a modern world. Part of the remainder of the funds also went to purchasing a motor cycle for me ( bodaboda) to take me to work. I work as as a car wash attendant, charging Kes. 50 for a very dirty bodaboda and Kes, 30 for a not so dirty one. GiveDirectly have been a blessing during these most trying of times.

I was already out to my workplace when I received a message notification that morning and with great joy, I had to call and confirm from my neighbors whether they had received the same news. I also called my wife who was back home and after informing her, she was equally excited as we had great goals that we needed to initiate after receiving the transfer.

The biggest difference in my daily life is the booming firewood business that has made our lives easier as its profit margin is lucrative at the moment. Buying firewood from the vendors at a wholesale price and reselling in smaller quantities has an attractive profit. Even though I started barely a month ago, it is so far doing well as I am still the only one running the business in the immediate neighborhood. I am thankful to GiveDirectly and I hope that this business will grow to enable us to initiate other projects that we had been hoping for.

With the first transfer, I managed to open up a small business currently run by my wife in the nearby shopping center. The business deals in buying and reselling firewood to the locals as this is the main source of fuel in the larger community. I had to obtain a huge starting stock of KES 15000 that has so far been keeping her busy as she has so far restocked the stall twice and made an appreciable profit that has made our financial obligation easier to settle. I also had to complete the construction of a store and fix a window of our main house that has been at a halt for a long time now. I needed to buy more timber, a door, hinges and finally paid the labor charges. These constructions as well needed an approximate cost of KES15000, and I am glad that they are both complete at the moment. With the remaining amount, I settled a debt of KES 9500 that I had in my workplace, obtained two sacks of maize at KES 6000, purchased clothes for all the 7 members of my family, and also paid tuition fees for my two sons who are currently in grade 8. I am grateful to GiveDirectly for this generous support that has seen us take a great stride in improving our living standards.