I am left alone with my last-born daughter in this household. My plan now is to ensure that I have plenty of food for my family of two. I will shift my focus from cultivating annual crops to farming short-seasoned crops. This will supplement the food in my family.

The ability to plan or use your money based on your needs has enabled many families in this village to build better homes. People are now living in peace having their problems solved. However, there is a burden that comes with being a single parent. In my village, there is a significant number of divorced ladies left with nothing to inherit. Most of them come back to their parents with their families, this is two households coming together to share some limited family resources. GiveDirectly should consider a project or a way they can give them a helping hand. Say even giving them housing so they can support their families independently.

My dream was to build a new kitchen. I was feeling embarrassed and disappointed every moment I was cooking. It is expected that food should be cooked in a clean and neat environment but that remained a wish for me. I never had the financial muscle to build a better kitchen. Having received my second transfer, I used KES 40000 to build an iron sheet thatched roof kitchen. This has made me calm and enjoy cooking. My last-born daughter Mercy was sitting for her diploma exam and was required to pay KES 6000 examination fees. This money helped me pay her examination fees without struggle.

I felt so much joy in my heart upon receiving money from GiveDirectly. Everyone within my village was overwhelmed with joy. At that time I was attending a meeting within the village and some of the people whom we were with announced that they had received money from GiveDirectly. I asked one of them who I thought was learned to confirm whether I had received my share too. The feedback from her was very positive as she agreed that I had received the money too. I later went home and shared the good news with my children who were equally very happy to hear this.

The biggest difference in my daily life is the fact that I am more happy than I have ever been in my life after receiving the first payment.The good deeds that I have accomplished have really brought so much joy and happiness for me and my family. How I wish that I had someone with a smartphone here, we would have taken a photo of the cow that I bought and sent it to you to see. I feel so much happy to have benefitted from this program.

I used KES 46000 to buy a dairy cow and used the remaining amount to clear debts owed to me by my neighbours who had helped me clear hospital bill for one of my children who had not been feeling well for quite sometime. I did not have any fairy cow in the compound having sold the only dairy that I owned to help pay school fees fir my daughter who was sitting for an exam around that time. I am a widow and I normally rely on subsistence farming to earn a little income that keeps us going. The amount of income that I got from this farming would not allow me accumulate enough money and buy a desired dairy cow and I am very happy that GiveDirectly came in handy to help me realize this dream. In the next few months, the cow would have called and the milk produces shall make us enough income to meet daily needs and raise our living standards as well.