Having worked as a mason for the past ten years, my biggest dream is to own building equipment that I will use in my daily work. My new goal is to buy this equipment and cease borrowing the same from friend and my colleagues. Missing such important building equipment has cost me jobs, and that translates to lost income, which is bad and very disappointing for me.

I would like to thank and commend Give Directly for giving us hope in life through the unconditional transfers. The funds have helped me overcome many challenges that I have been facing in my life. In future, I would like the organization to enroll more members in the family or increase the amount they are giving.

It is unfortunate that immediately I received my transfer, I was forced me to abandon my primary goal of buying work equipment and focus on my wife’s health condition. For the past two years, my wife has been battling a strange disease which makes her faint, unable to walk, eat and talk. The condition is so serious that once she collapses, she takes several hours before she can come to her normal condition again. Her condition needs very close monitoring, and it is for this reason that I could not work normally. I spend most of my time being close to her and act quickly in case of any emergency. In seeking medical attention to her condition, I have exhausted my savings and there is no improvement in her health. Some of my children are not in school due to school fee arrears, which I cannot pay due to lack of money. Providing food for the family has also been a challenge for me, forcing as to skip meals and often sleep on empty stomachs. I spent part of the money to buy food in bulk for my family (wife and 5 children) because we had no food left to feed on in the house. I am currently using the remaining amount to seek for proper medical attention for my wife’s condition. My hope and prayer is that she will be well soon and we as a family are here to support her until she fully recovers.

It was late in the evening while I was out on the farm when I heard people celebrating. This caught my attention, so I left the farm to check on what was going on. That was when I noticed that they were celebrating the Give Directly transfers. I hurried for my phone that was charging in the nearby market center so that I could confirm if I had received my transfers too. The first message I received immediately after I switched on my phone was a confirmation message that I had received KES 55000. I could not contain my happiness because my wife was admitted to the hospital and I had no idea how I was to raise the hospital bill. The money was a lifesaver.

The biggest difference in my daily life since I started receiving the transfers is the ease in meeting my family's needs without owing anyone any debt. I am a substance farmer but due to poor climatic conditions, we normally get low farm produce that can not take us for half a year. In most cases, I would be forced to borrow from some of my friends and neighbors in order to meet my family's needs, and on several occasions, we would rely on a meal per day or at times none. I am glad that my children are currently in school, and they are able to have three meals in a day.

I used KES 14000 to clear my spouse's hospital bill who was unwell and had stayed at the hospital for a while. I also bought both a goat and a cow for rearing at KES a cost of 14000. Am hopeful that in the future after they will have given birth I will not only have additional livestock but also milk both for sale and family consumption. This will be an additional income for the family. I have saved KES 17000 for future use and spent part of the money on various foodstuffs for my family.