I am a mother of 4 living in Bamba, one of the poorest village in Kilifi. I was happy for getting enrolled into GiveDirectly program as it gave me a new goal of a life time. I never thought that one day I would have a place call home and boost my business of tailoring. All these remained a dream until when I received GiveDirectly transfers. I work as a tailor while my husband work as a PP1 teacher. Life became unbearable for us because of the little income we got from our jobs. We hardly pay our children school fees as well as building a spacious room for the family. My business almost collapsed due lack of enough capital. I am so grateful for the support provided by GiveDirectly since I was able to increase the size of our house. We also agreed with my husband to renovate the floor by cementing it so that our four children would not caught jiggers and cold at nights. The house currently looks big enough and more presentable unlike before. Furthermore, I managed to expand my tailoring business by buying more African fabric materials for my clients. The transfer stabilized my business since I no longer struggle to meet my customers' demand. Before receiving the transfers, I would loose many customers because they would miss the current african fabric materials for sewing. Thank you GiveDirectly.

What I liked about GiveDirectly was its generosity and compassion towards assisting the poor in the society. GiveDirectly has elevated many people in our community from poverty. Many people from our community started business, boosted their business, some bought plots and land, some took their children back to school. I can say that many lives have been changed and touched as a result of GiveDirectly transfer. I am grateful for the support provided. May God bless GiveDirectly. So far I haven't seen any area of improvement for GiveDirectly.

My second transfer came at a time when I needed cash the most. My first born child was to join class eight and I needed to set her school fees aside of KES 15,000. I am grateful for the support provided by GiveDirectly, I remember that fateful evening when I heard a phone vibration only to see a confirmation message of KES 53150 from GiveDirectly. It was the happiest moment for me knowing that I would be able to pay my child's fees in advance and also complete my house construction. The transfer helped me a lot in that I paid school fees using KES 15,000 and the remaining KES 38,000 I used it in the construction. However, the construction process was not completed due to lack of enough funds, looking forward to start saving from my tailoring business which is currently doing great due to these transfers so that I can complete my house renovation.

It was around 7 am when I heard a message notification from my phone. I was still in bed at the time. When I checked it out I could not believe my eyes because I have never received such an amount of money before. I woke up immediately and inform my family members and we all celebrated that early morning. My spouse felt so happy because he was so stressed up looking for the money to renovate our house which was almost falling. We knew from that point that we would be able to purchase the building materials and start the renovation process. I am so grateful because GiveDirectly had enabled us to fulfilled our dreams and improved our living standards.

The biggest difference in my daily life is that I have renovated my house. We lived in a house that was almost falling. It was so risky and we were so worried. We had always wished to renovate but we did not have the money to purchase the materials. We depend on small casual jobs. The money that we would get with my spouse is too small and it was only for household basic needs. There was no extra money to invest in building materials. We were so worried because the house could fall anytime and this could injure us. When we received the transfer we immediately purchased all the necessary materials and renovated the house. Currently, we live in a decent house. We sleep well without any stress like before. My family members are so happy and grateful for the support. Were it not GiveDirectly all this could have taken quite some time and maybe the house could have fallen. Our living started has improved and we live peacefully.

We spent half of the transfer on purchasing building materials and renovating our house. We lived in a house which was so old and almost falling. We had always wished to renovate the house but we did not have the money to purchase the materials. I depend on small-scale farming and my tailoring business. The money that I would get was so small and I was not able to buy building materials. Currently, I have renovated my house and it looks so decent and very strong. We no longer get worried like before. With the rest of the money, I was able to purchase the food and other household items that we were lacking at home.