I am happy that I already have funds to facilitate the construction of a more spacious house for our family. We live near a primary school and we are hoping that we will be among those who will benefit from the last-mile electricity connection sponsored by the Government. Because of this, it is our wish as a family to start a posho mill business since the nearest one that we have been going to is far from where we live. Since we do not have funds to use in achieving this, we are planning to start planting potatoes instead of maize since it takes a shorter period of time. We will be selling the surplus and using the money to achieve this. We're optimistic that it will not take us more than five years to achieve this since our children who are still in school are almost completing their secondary school education.

For the years that I have lived, GiveDirectly is the first organization that I have seen give out such an amount of financial aid to people. To me, this is what they do best and outdo other charity organizations. I am happy that I am one of those who benefited from their program and because of this, I am about to build a bigger house for my family something I never thought I would ever achieve in life.

Building a more spacious house has been our dream since we currently live in a single house. With a family of 8, paying school fees for our children and meeting our basic needs on time has been a challenge for us since we depend on subsistence farming. In addition, we had to come to terms that our children will always have to sleep at our neighbor's house though we were not comfortable. I am glad that GiveDirectly has given us a reason to smile because, with the first transfer, I was able to purchase 30 pieces of iron sheets and 7 kilograms of nails. I still have KES 46000 from the second transfer that I am planning to use in buying enough timber and paying for the labor of the construction of our house. With the KES 9000 that I have cashed out, I spent it to purchase enough fertilizers and maize seeds so that we would be able to plant on time this year and take advantage of the rains that we've experienced in the past weeks.

The assurance that the struggles I had been going through in my daily life were over brought a lot of excitement when I saw a confirmation message that I had received the first transfer from GiveDirectly. It was around 11:00 pm when I received a message. At that moment I was already in bed trying to fall asleep but I had my phone on the side of the bed since I was expecting the good news after the neighboring village that we enrolled together had received theirs earlier that day. I had to wake everyone in the household up, shared the good news, and later closed with a word of prayer to thank God for that provision.

School fees payment had been a challenge that I could not get a chance to develop any other project alongside. It had been my prayer that on paying their school fees even with the great struggle, they will one day help in constructing a new house. I am grateful that GiveDirectly came in and so so far I have been able to pay in full which is the biggest difference in my daily life.

After a wait, I was glad to finally receive the first transfer that has so far brought a lot of transformation in my life. clearing all the school fees for my three children in secondary school that was at KES 13000 on the first day after a stressful negotiation with their teachers in the previous weeks was quite a relief to me. I could not delay the purchase of foodstuff and also settle the debts that I had in the shop with a total cost of KES 9250. I also spent some amount on ensuring that my children enjoy the Christmas celebrations. We had been living in the new piece of land that we bought two years and developing it had been so hard for us. Living under one roof with a family of eight had never been easy and I am glad that this project came to our rescue when we were on the verge of giving up on it. At the moment, a plan to set up another new house is on after I purchased 30 iron sheets worth KES 24000, and nails at KES 4000. We are looking forward to sourcing the timber and other construction materials once I receive the second transfer. I am grateful for all that has transpired and hope to see other changes soon.