I could not be more glad for having met GiveDirectly because I needed a lot of financial assistance. This finds have in turn given me hope for my future. I never thought I would ever manage to build a house but now I can and I honestly could not be more proud of myself and cannot help but feel deep gratitude for this organisation. I have no complaints to buy rather lots of praises so far.

Over the years I used to indulge mostly in subsistence farming so as to ensure that my family and I always had a meal, but unfortunately climate change did a number on us because we have experienced drought for quite sometime which has left us and our families almost headed for starvation. So when I received the funds from GiveDirectly it was a no brainer when it came to deciding what I needed to purchase first. I went on to buy a bag of maize flour, that contained a dozen packets for KES 1,620 and the used KES 380 to acquire sardines, a kilogram of beans and sugar. Luckily I was still left remaining with about KES 1,000 which I ended using in buying chicken since I intended to begin poultry farming.

The night before receiving the money I had actually gone to bed in an empty stomach because I had no food and no money either, and the next morning I woke up to a similar situation. I knew I would have to go through the same ordeal of being hungry like i had the day before but fortunately, to my surprise, I received money from GiveDirectly that early morning. The look on my face was priceless because I was beaming with so much happiness I almost shed a tear.

Ever since being introduced to this program and organization, I have had some form of relief because before I had so many financial problems. I would starve on so many occasions and from time to time my son would come to my rescue but it was hardly enough for him to cater for the both of us. I am grateful because now I can afford to have a meal on the table which means the world to me. Soon enough I will have my own house as well.

When I got introduced to this organization, I thought to myself that finally I would have the means to build a house for myself ever since my house collapsed about a decade ago and I ended up homeless, then having to seek shelter in the same house with my mother-in-law. Ten years is definitely a long time if you ask me for being homeless, but then again my hands were tied since I did not have the financial means to build my own house. Therefore that was my initial plan, but after I received the money I had to change my mind and deal with matters concerning nutrition because I barely had food in the house and going hungry was so excruciating, and I would know because it happened to me so many times. So as soon as I received the money, I thought to myself to get a meal then the next time I could concentrate on saving up to build a house for myself. I went on and bought nine packets of maize flour which cost KES 1,080 and used the remaining KES 120 to buy sugar, cabbage, tomatoes and lastly a small portion of sardines.