I have four children in different levels of education and being a single mother, meeting their needs on time and paying school fees for them is a challenge to me. Due to this, I do not have any new or additional goals for the next few years since I want to concentrate on good and timely farming practices that will lead to an increase in the yields. I will in turn be selling some and use the money to cater for their school fees and personal needs while at school.

GiveDirectly enrolled everyone in my village without any discrimination and this is what they do best since we've also been hearing from other villages that the enrollment process in their villages was fair. Because of the financial aid that all eligible households received, there has never been a harambee in my village for the last 5 months yet it was so rampant before. I do not see anything that GiveDirectly does not do well.

Crop farming has not been productive for the past few years since we were not using hybrid seeds and fertilizers and we would not source the services of a tractor for land preparation due to lack of money. Because of this, I no longer depended on selling my farm produce to educate my four children in different levels of education. Due to this, I spent KES 38000 from my second transfer to pay school fees for my son in college and KES 4500 on farming by buying hybrid maize seeds and hiring a tractor to till my land. I spent the remaining KES 12000 on food and a pair of clothes for my children.

I was at home with my two children that morning when I received a message notification from GiveDirectly. It first hit me as a shock but on reading and getting it confirmed by my son, it then dawned to me that it was indeed the transfer I had been expecting to receive. I thanked God and celebrated a lot with my children. In my mind, I was so excited that the hope of constructing a new house and finally taking my son back to school was finally here with me. I could not wait but get ready, left the house, and came back after one hour having withdrawn the whole amount. I needed to start construction work immediately as I had already planned with the constructor who gave me a list of all that I could buy.

The biggest difference in my daily life is the complete construction of a new house for my sons that has enabled them to sleep in a separate house unlike before when we were sharing the same roof. At their age, our culture doesn't allow them to share the same roof with their parents especially their mother but since I had no option that would have made it possible to construct them a new house, they had to be patient all along. I thank God for this amazing support from GiveDirectly as it has brought a lot more changes in my household that I am proud of.

As a single mother of four, it has been so hard for me to meet all the household requirements as well as equip all my children with all they need. I had been working so hard to see them through school even though it has never been that easier. My elder son had initially enrolled to join a course in college but had to stop for almost a year before resuming recently after I received the first transfer. I managed to settle his school fees worth KES20000 that enabled him to rejoin, and I am glad that he is now back to school. I also had to construct a new house for him and another younger son. They had been residing in an extension of my main house that was not giving them the space they need as grown-ups. With KES30000, I managed to obtain 27 iron sheets, frames, nails and paid the labor force that worked on the construction site. With the remaining amount, I managed to obtain a sack of maize that is currently serving us as foodstuff as we had exhausted the little harvest we had in our stores.