My new goal is to start a new business. I am thinking about starting a cereal selling business in order to make more profits and make my life and that of my family very comfortable. Right now we depend a lot on casual labour to make livelihoods for our family which gives us just enough to feed our family and pay school fees albeit with some struggle. I plan to save up enough money during the short school holidays and this is the money I will use to start up this business.

GiveDirectly did well by giving us support in form of cash. This gave us an opportunity to choose how best we were going to spend the money. Looking at what I have done with the money gives me so much joy just as everyone else is happy.

We used KES 35000 to buy a dairy cow and used the remainder to pay school fees for our two children in secondary school. We made a decision to buy a dairy cow since we did not own one. Having sold an only cow that we had to pay school fees in the past. This was the only opportune moment to be able to buy the dairy cow. Once it starts producing milk, we will be sure to have extra income and make our lives more comfortable. Right now we entirely depend on odd casual jobs to make money which provides us with just enough to feed the family and a little more to pay school fees. The dairy cow shall increase this income and make it possible for us to make ends meet quite easily and also pay school fees for our children. I am personally so grateful for the support that we received from GiveDirectly.

I was indeed grateful to receive the first transfer as I already had plans in place and had been waiting for this great moment in my life. I was at home alone that morning as my husband had gone to his usual chores. With the great excitement I had, I wanted to call GiveDirectly's hotline number but could not go through even after several trials. I had to inform my husband who was equally overjoyed as he wished he was home then. He advised me to withdraw and without wasting time, I had to leave the house to a nearby shopping center where I was sure to find the whole amount. I could not buy anything after as I felt he should celebrate with me the whole amount when he comes back and indeed it was a good feeling counting from the first note to the coins that evening with him.

After the endless repair of our old shelter's roof, I am glad to have finally planned the construction of a new one. The hope of having peacefully nights where I don't have to worry about the leakages on the roof, flooding the floors, and even soaking my kids' bedding. This to me is so far the biggest thing to have happened in my life and will also impact the whole household as everyone has been hoping for a breakthrough to enable us to construct a new house.

I am grateful that I received great support from GiveDirectly that has finally enabled us to plan the construction of a new house. I am living with my family of seven in an old kitchen - thatched on the roof with grass. It has been a struggle trying to repair at every onset of a rainy season since the required grass required to replace the old ones has been scarce and even expensive when found. The leaking crevices at the peak were bearable no more, and I had to spend KES 25000 to obtain 30 irons sheets, building posts, and other construction materials in readiness to put up a new semi-permanent shelter. With the remaining KES 29000, I have a plan to obtain additional iron sheets as my elder son also needs a different house where he will be sleeping to give my neighbor's sons enough space as he had been seeking a place to sleep in their house. I am yet to start the construction as I needed to assemble all the construction materials, book an experienced labor force that will be picking the construction once I receive the second transfer. I am grateful to GiveDirectly for the great consideration as a lot has happened in our village that would not have been possible even in some years ahead.