The greatest achievement that I will forever remember is having a decent house to live in that GiveDirectly helped me to build. Had it not been their support, I would still be living in my old, small and grass-thatched hut. I now have access to a good shelter unlike before. I am also happy that I now have my own pair of oxen that will help me to make my farming productive for better harvest. In addition to this, I also replaced my bedding with a new mattress and a new wooden bed. I would not have achieved these if at all I was to pay at my own cost. I am grateful to GiveDirectly for changing my life.

GiveDirectly has done well in promoting the living standards and also reducing the poverty that had hit hard on us. We were living in hand to mouth lives. Even building homes and buying livestock seemed expensive to us. Now we have these things because of GiveDirectly. I don't see anything that GiveDirectly does not do well in our region.

I spent KES 30000 of my second transfer to buy a pair of oxen. I am using this pair of oxen in my farm's preparation and for ploughing. I also bought an ox-plough to use with the pair of oxen. We were faced with shortage of food because the previous harvest wasn't plenty. Thus I did enough shopping of foodstuffs for my family as well as paying for other household expenses.

The biggest difference in my daily life is that I now have two cows that I am now depending on for milk production. I used to have three cows but all of them perished due to the severe famine that had stricken our land. The livestock lacked water and grass to feed on and they died. This was such a huge loss to me since I also depended on them for milk production in order to help me meet my daily needs. I am so happy today when I see the two cows and when I see my grandchildren go to school and them not being chased away due to lack of school fees. I see myself now being able to start a business of selling poultry and goats here in our village, this business will enable me meet my daily needs and those of my family. All I can tell GiveDirectly is to send the rest of the transfer as soon as possible so that I can be able to start this poultry business, other than that I am very grateful to Givedirectly.

The moment I received this money, I was in the house as usual when I heard my phone ring as it received a message at around 11:10 in the morning. I did not read the message since I am not conversant with reading. I was patient and waited till evening when my grandchildren come home from school for them to tell me what the message said. On reaching home I gave one of them the phone so that he could read the message for me, they were very excited as they told me that I had received money from GiveDirectly. I felt so happy and grateful for the good news I had received and the following day it was a must for me to withdraw the transfer.

I spent my first transfer on paying my grandchildren's school fees. Four of them are in primary school and it is unfortunate that they have been constantly chased out of school due to lack of money. This January was not so different as I did not have money to pay their school fees, and they were sent home again. When I received the money, I was so grateful and I decided to pay the whole debt I owed the school so that my children could learn with no interruptions. I am happy to say they are now in school learning without anyone disturbing them or asking them for school fees. The rest of the money I decided to buy two cows. this will be of great benefit to me since the cows will produce milk for consumption and I could sell the milk and as they also reproduced, I would be able to get plenty of milk.