We've been living in a grass thatched house and the area usually gets flooded during the rainy season. It had been my wish to build a more spacious house in a raised place so that we will always be free of floods whenever it rained. When GiveDirectly came to our village, I felt that my prayer had been answered but it did not take long before I had disagreements with my parents after agreeing to get enrolled by GiveDirectly. Because of this, I could not continue with the construction process and I opted to purchase the building materials and keep them. I am happy that we recently reconciled and I am planning to start actualizing my goal. Since I already exhausted my transfer, I will use the money from the sale of my farm products to pay for the labor.

In my opinion, GiveDirectly did well by giving out financial aid. With it, people who did not have live assets have been able to acquire some while those living in grass-thatched houses have built more spacious iron-roofed ones. Generally, I have seen the lives of people in my village transform for the better. This is a goal that GiveDirectly has achieved over a short time without struggling.

I had been getting milk from my parents but when I decided to get enrolled by GiveDirectly, they decided to cut their support in terms of milk since they did not want any of their children being associated with GiveDirectly. Because of this, I saw the need of acquiring a dairy cow of my own and that is exactly what I did after receiving our second transfer. I spent KES 37000 on the purchase of a dairy cow and its calf and a KES 6000 on a goat. Currently, we use milk from the goat in making tea while we sell that of the cow so that we can earn some money to use in meeting our basic needs. I used the remaining KES 9000 on food and clothes for the family.

I had gone to the canteen to buy sugar on credit since my wife wanted to make breakfast for the family. The shopkeeper informed me that he would not sell anything to me on credit since I had money as he knew that people had started receiving the promised money from GiveDirectly. I decided to check my Mpesa balance and realized that I had not received anything yet. This made me restart my phone and to my surprise, I received a Mpesa message confirming receipt after powering it on. This made me so happy and I bought the items that I needed and rushed back home to share the good news with my family.

The biggest difference in my daily life is that my family now feeds well unlike before. This is because I was able to purchase foodstuffs that will still last us for some time. Also, I have been consistent with irrigation farming and this has led to an increase in my daily sales. This has enabled me to meet most of our needs on time and be able to save some money unlike before.

I am a farmer dealing majorly in crop farming of kales, cabbages, and tomatoes. Our region at times experiences prolonged drought seasons and my farm is located in an area full of stones. Due to this, water retention is low and I am forced to practice irrigation most of the time. Because of this, I have been hiring a water pump from one of my neighbors and it is costly and upon receiving my transfer, we decided to purchase one worth KES 22000. In addition, I spent KES 15000 to buy 20 pieces of iron sheets that I am planning to use in building a more decent iron-roofed house for my family since the one we live in is grass thatched and the roof has to be changed every two years. I used the remaining KES 15000 on clothes and foodstuffs for my family.