My life is different than how it would have been because I managed to construct two decents houses . The previous one was very small and this led to some of my family members always seek shelter from friends which was very frustrating since it was a daily routine. Also, there was no privacy at all and sometimes I felt I had failed as a parent but then my hope was someday I would also own my own decent house. I am glad GiveDirectly came right on time and enabled me to accomplish this. An also the goats that I now own will specifically be for my children's education which has been a challenge for all those years. They will no longer be sent home regularly as before.

In my opinion, GiveDirectly did a perfect job in my entire village and we were all pleased. The idea of sending money directly into our mobile phone was very unique. Each one of us was allowed to choose what to purchase according to what he or she was lacking in life. Also, I do not see any part GiveDirectly failed us.

I spent part of my second transfer on buying livestock which includes seven each at KES 3700. This has been my desire to keep it in my compound since the climate is favorable. Also, I bought some building materials which include iron sheets, building poles, timber, and nails. This was for the construction of a new house for my brother since he used to seek from his friends which stressful. Also, I gave the mason KES 9000 as the labor charge. I later cleared fees for my children for the whole year to avoid the disturbances. With the remaining amount bought enough food

I was at home early in the morning at around 0700Hrs as I was preparing to go to my farm, to water the vegetables. I heard a message come into my phone and when I checked the message, it was the Mpesa message for the transfers. I was very very happy. I knew I could now embark on all the projects that I always wanted to do, such as building a new home for my family.

The biggest difference in my daily life is that I now own livestock and I can build a new home for my family. My family and I can now live comfortably in a better and spacious house that is not grass thatched. I can also happily concentrate on being a livestock farmer as well as farming in my piece of land.

I spent my transfers to purchase fifteen goats and to build a house for my family. I bought goats because almost all of my neighbours owned livestock except me; I also wanted to see livestock in my home so I can also enjoy the many benefits that my neighbours have been enjoying from owning goats. I hope that my goats can reproduce as years go by so they can double in number and bring back good profit in terms of sale of goat milk or goat meat. I can even sell a whole goat for profit, if need be. I built a house for my family as my wife, my three children and I, lived in a small grass thatched house that has never been sufficient for us. I was never able to build a house before because I did not have the money to build one. I work at my farm to produce food for my family, while my wife runs a small restaurant where she prepares tea and other delicacies for sale in the village. We earn a meagre income that cannot enable us to build a new house. I was very grateful to GiveDirectly for the transfers as we can now afford to do the things that we were unable to. Thank you so much.