With the current skills I have in animal vending, I would want to add the ratio in which I buy and sell animals. I believe by buying and selling in bulk I will earn a lot of profit that will enable me to meet all my family's expenses and solve all the underlying financial constraints that we have.

I am appreciative that GiveDirectly helped us with the cash transfers and made it possible for me to initiate my animal-selling business. The best thing GiveDirectly did was provide unconditional financial assistance to families like mine. I understand how important it is to assist people from communities that are similarly mired in poverty, even though I wish they would continue to support us financially through other cash initiatives. I do not see anything that GiveDirectly could do better, in my opinion. As they did with my community, I hope they continue to support other communities similarly.

Investing in livestock is the route I opted to take after getting the second transfer. I bought a cow for $300 and three goats for $96. The aim of buying these is for livestock farming which will help me to solve some financial needs by selling if the needs arise. After that, I paid $128 school fees for my 6 elementary school children so that they could be allowed to do their examinations. Apart from the foodstuff that I bought for the family, I added $150 from the first transfer savings to the remaining amount and started an animal vending business.

I was in the bush fetching for firewood when I received a message and since I'm illiterate, I couldn't read it but waited to get home so that I could get my son to read it for me. When I got home, I gave my son the phone and upon reading the message, he told me that I had received my first transfer and I was so happy that I was finally going to buy livestock something that was on top of my priority.

The biggest difference is that my husband was able to go back to his business courtesy of the transfers and he can afford to provide for his family without much struggle. My children are also able to settle in school because I was able to clear the fees balance and we are able to afford three meals per day compared to previously when we were used to one meal per day.

Being a housewife, I have been depending on my husband who earns living through buying and selling livestock. For the last two years that drought struck our land and swept almost all the livestock, life has not been easy because livestock became expensive and he couldn't afford to continue with the business. He started looking for casual jobs to support our family and that's all he was up to until I received the first transfer. With this money, I was able to buy two oxen worth KES 32000 which will provide farm labour in our farm and also other people's farm as a source of income. I also spend KES 12600 to buy several goats which got my husband back into his business, KES 3900 to pay school fees for my six children and the balance to buy maize and rice enough to take my family through out the month.