Before receiving the money I had intentions to ensure that I cleared the debt in school that my children had, especially since they had been kicked out of school for sometime prior to me receiving the transfers. Apart from that I also had a debt at the store since I had pleaded with the owner to assist me by loaning me some items like maize flour and cooking oil, because I did not have any food in the house and I wanted to avoid the kids going to bed hungry. So I promised to pay the storekeeper back after I had received some money. I also hoped that I could manage to buy some livestock so as to grow my farm.

I personally commend GiveDirectly for the great work it has done for not only my family but for our entire village as a whole. This is because ever since our village got introduced to programs initiated by GiveDirectly there has been tremendous positive change. Our kids go to school, we can feed our families and some people even built better homes for their families. I am glad for meeting GiveDirectly and all the things it has done are great indeed.

When I receive the money I was sincerely overwhelmed with so much joy especially because my kids had been home for close to a week without classes since I had not cleared the debt in tuition fee due to lack of finances. Therefore I took KES 9,000 and paid for one of my kids who was in secondary school and then paid KES 4,000 for three of my other kids who were in primary school. After that I went ahead to settle the debt from the items I was loaned by the store owner during the time I had run out of food for the family. I paid KES 2,000 to clear the debt but my reasons were not only to ensure the loan was written off but also to ensure that the aspect of respect and trust between I and the owner of the store was still intact. Also matters concerning nutrition have also been quite challenging back in the village due to drought, so I decided to take care of matters concerning a meal and I went on to buy a sack of maize for KES 3,900 and five kilograms of sugar for KES 500. Lastly I decided to buy a bicycle that my family and I planned on using as a means of transport when we fetched water. This is because water is scarce in our village and most times we fetch from other towns and villages which are quite the distance so normally we send motorists which is costly since we have to pay a fee. But with the bicycle that I bought for KES 4,500 then I no longer have to pay for the transportation fee but rather I can send my sons instead.

Early in the morning when I woke up, I saw an exciting message in my phone that I had received the GiveDirectly transfer, this made me feel so happy and I ululated inwardly. Upon checking on family and friends I realized that the received theirs the previous day and on looking keenly to the message I received I also discovered that it was sent earlier than the time I saw it.

Initially our living condition was very poor. I relied on making and selling charcoal so as to carter for my family needs; thus the accumulation of the fees since 2019. This is a true picture that we also used to sleep without taking some food at times. But since the time I received the transfer things changed. I was able to pay all the arrears and my family has an access to food.

Before the transfer was sent, I had already planned on how I was going to spent it on. Therefore, I first paid primary school fee arrears for my children which had accumulated since 2019. Thereafter, I bought a standard bed and a mattress because initially I was sleeping on a small poor bed. I also bought 3 sacks of maize for my family to ensure food security at home, a water tank and some basins because we used to take bath using some plastic jerricans that we cut them in a basin shape.