In the next one year and beyond I look forward to buying an additional dairy cow and start a poultry keeping project as well. Having bought the first dairy cow that is yet to calve, I am motivated to save up enough money from a voluntary job that I do and from the farm produce that I get. I have some experience in poultry keeping and I am so much determined to start this business and correct the wrongs that I did the first time I did the project. All these, I am optimistic shall be made possible within the next one year or so.

In my opinion, GiveDirectly does very well by first of all training its beneficiaries and relaying key information about the program. It also does exceedingly well by giving each beneficiary the freedom to choose how to spend the money. Different people have different needs and respecting this is very important. Giving people cash in order for them to make decisions on how to spend the money is just a very good idea.

I used $350 to buy a heifer upon receiving the second payment from GiveDirectly. This is an investment that had always been in my mind and I looked forward to the day I will have such an accumulated amount of money to be able to do this. My family of four had had to endure many years of lack of milk because as the head of the household, I could not raise enough money from my odd casual work to buy one. GiveDirectly has made me feel proud as a father of two having bought this heifer. Although it is not producing milk yet, we are all optimistic that it will soon start producing milk once it calves and change our living standards as a family. I then used the remaining amount of $200 to complete the construction of a house that I had started building using the first transfer. This money was very helpful in fixing the doors and doing the roofing. I cannot thank GiveDirectly enough now that we have a new house for our family. We have all along lived in a grass thatched house- a house that was so small and indecent for us. The things that GiveDirectly has seen me do would only have been realized in many years to come. I can now focus on other important things like paying school fees for my children without much stress.

I was glad when I first received the first transfer from GiveDirectly, which filled me with the hope of accomplishing all I had. It was around 8:00 pm when I got the message and since I was alone and was already late, I could not collect but withdrew after some days from the nearby shopping center.

The biggest difference in my daily life is the magical transformation in my household after demolishing an old hut and constructing a new one that we just moved in. The support I received from GiveDirectly facilitated the fast transformation that would have taken a long time to be completed since I could not get such an accumulated amount.

I had been living in an old hut in proximity to a small dam with my two children. For a long time, I hoped to move it a little further since the infestation of mosquitoes and the extreme cold because of the closeness to the water body were unbearable for my young children. On receiving the first transfer, this was a call to answer by constructing another decent and spacious house away from the dam. with KES 35000, I bought 24 iron sheets, building poles and frames, nails, and other construction materials that completed the construction. I am happy that I paid the entire cost of construction and finally connected electricity that has illuminated every corner of my house. Purchasing a new piece of furniture at KES 5000 was the second item on my list, and this has made the interior part of my room look good. In addition, I have just started the construction of a new kitchen with the remaining KES 8000 and am confident to complete it in a month's time.