In the next year and beyond, my plan is to start a small business where I will make more income. Right now I work as a broker and the money that I get from this work is hardly enough to comfortably sustain all the needs of my family. I am thinking about starting a fashion selling shop in a nearby town which I will run alongside my broking business. This I believe will make my life and that of my family better going into the future by generating more income.

In my opinion, GiveDirectly does so well by giving people cash and the freedom to choose how well the cash will be of benefit to them. Looking at the new house that I was able to build and the furniture therein makes me happy and content. This is the change that my family and I so desired just like another family may have chosen to spend the money in a different manner. To me this is something that GiveDirectly should keep doing. I did not find anything with GiveDirectly that I thought could have been done any better except for some people whom we feel were left out of the program.

When I received my second transfer of $550, I used $300 to buy building materials and put up a new house with it. I then used another $190 to buy furniture that was used in the new house and also bought food for family with it. For the longest time, we have lived in a grass thatched house and even getting clean drinking water was just a dream to us. We would end up going to the nearest river to fetch water even after a heavy downpour. This was rather embarrassing to us but we did not have an option. I am so happy that we now not only have clean drinking water but also a roof over our heads. We received the money at a time that we had had long dry season making it hard for us to put food on the table. This was therefore such a relief to us since for once we were able to buy food in bulk and feed the family comfortably. This gave us so much joy within our families. We had not been able to make major investments like building a better house because of the huge responsibility of paying school fees and the limited resources at our disposal.

It was around 5 pm when I heard a message notification from my phone. I was just relaxing at home after a busy day. I decided to check out who could have texted me. It was a message confirming that I have received KES 55,000. I felt so happy because I have never received such amount of money before. My spouse was at home and we all celebrated. We sat down and planned on how to spend it. I went and withdraw the money the following day and started to spent it. I am so grateful for the support because GiveDirectly has changed our living standards.

Renovating my house to look decent is the biggest difference in my daily life. This is the house that I constructed in the year 1979. The house was so old and I have always wished to renovate it. I depend on casual jobs and small scale farming. The money that I would get was only for household basic needs and school fees for my children in various schools. I had no extra money to purchase some of the material for renovations. When I received the transfer from GiveDirectly I felt so happy because I knew this was the opportunity to invest on renovating my house. I was in a position to pay the workers and purchase all the materials that was needed. My house now look decent and I am so grateful. Whenever I have visitors I do not hesitate to welcome them. This could have taken quite some time to do it. GiveDirectly has improved our living standards to be much better than before.

I spent KES 14,000 on renovating my house to look decent. This was the house that I build on 1979. It was so old and I had always wished to renovate. Currently the house look so decent and I am so grateful for the support. I spent KES 12,000 on purchasing sofa. I am so Happy because whenever I have visitors I host them comfortably. I spent KES 18,000 on purchasing a smart phone for my son who is in University. He uses the phone to do some assignments. He was so happy and grateful. The remaining amount of money I spent on food and household items.