Firewood come across as an important source of income in my village. I spend most of my days in an adjacent government forest collecting firewood for sale in a nearby shopping center. I usually engage in this otherwise illegal activity so as to provide for my family of three especially to pay for the milk I rent from a neighbor and purchase of other household needs. Upon receiving money from GiveDirectly, I intend to buy a dairy cow which is going to take the role of substitute source of income. This will relieve me of a constant fear of possible prosecution for deforestation. My dairy cow is going to be the beginning of a sustainable development in my family which will play a major role in the education of my children.

To say that majority of women in my community depend entirely on casual labour to provide for their families is a statement that cannot be gainsaid. My typical day involves working in people's farms to weed maize and sometimes beans. Alternatively, we would encroach a nearby government forest to get wood for sale. When my objective of purchasing household needs especially food is achieved in the evening, this is the happiest part of my day.

A few years ago when the government of Kenya forcefully evicted people from the Mau forest for encroachment, my parents became victims. Homes and schools were reduced to ashes and we became squatters for a long time. Myself and other school attending children inevitably became casual labourers in a nearby community so as to collaboratively provide for the family with our parents. My one time spirit and dream of becoming a teacher was ostensibly quashed by an impasse in which I had no control over. My life would be different now had I received education to college level. Right now I am a single mother of two who cannot fully provide a life of dignity to my children. With no stable source of income, my worry was seeing my children drop out of school in future due to poverty. But thanks to GiveDirectly cash transfer program, I am about to rewrite my story.