The new goal that I have at the moment is to connect tap water to my household. Currently, we are required to walk for over 5 kilometers to the neighboring village to get water for the family. In addition, I am planning to be selling the tap water to other villagers for KES 10 per 20 liters to earn an additional income. The money from the water vending will help me in meeting other basic needs like food. At the moment, I am using over KES 150 per day to purchase water for family consumption and our animals.

In my opinion, Givedirectly did well for sending direct cash to poor households in our village. Allowing the beneficiaries to choose how to spend the transfer to better their living condition is what the organization did well. I just wish it would continue to assist other poor in the community and beyond. I can comfortably say there is nothing that they did not do well since everything went well.

I spent $230 to purchase a brand new motorbike on hire purchase, I am required to make payment of the remaining amount on an installment basis of $28 per week for a period of one year. The intention was to start a taxi business a reliable source of income for the family. Nowadays, I am happy to earn $5 per day on average after setting aside $3.95 for the payment of the bike. This income is helping me in meeting most of the family's basic needs like food and as well as educating my 4 children who are in primary school. Earlier, I depended on temporary casual labor that earned me $2 per day which was hardly enough to support the family's needs. In addition, I used $100 to complete the payment of a local dairy cow which I bought with the first transfer that was costing $170 in total. Furthermore, I spent $100 to purchase enough food for the family since we did not have sufficient food for the family due to the ongoing famine in our area. With the remaining amount, I bought proper clothes for the 6 children and my wife since they were wearing old and torn clothes something that was very embarrassing to me.

I was at home spending quality time with my family members, chatting and storytelling. To my surprise, I switched on my phone, which had been out all night, and I received a message instantly. After reading the message, I learnt I had received my transfer from Give Directly. I felt excited and confused because I didn’t expect to receive such an amount of money. I called out to my wife, who was busy in the kitchen and she hastily came and I broke the good news to her. She felt thrilled as we all broke into a dance.

The biggest difference is I completed building my house, which has been stuck for a long time because of financial constraints. I am also glad that I bought two cows which can act as my future investment and can sell to cater to my children’s school fees.

My wife’s has been in and out of hospital severally because of sleeping on the bare floor. Therefore, when I received the cash, I used KES 11000 and bought a bed and a mattress. I have six children, four are in school and I paid KES 1200 for their school fees. Paying their school fees ensured they remained in school and continue with their studies with minimal interruptions. After over three years without rain, we recently received a heavy downpour, and I spent KES 2600 to buy seeds and used KES 2000 to hire plowing cows. This made it easier for me to plant maize and beans with minor struggles. I also to completed roofing my two-bedroomed house which I failed to do completely due to lack of enough funds. I bought iron sheets and gutters worth KES 3250. Finally, I spent the remaining cash to purchase two cows amounting to KES 15000 each. Since I did not have enough money to pay in cash, I paid cash plus a goat for the two cows.