Were it not for GiveDirectly coming to our village, I would still be hiring oxen in my farming practice rather I would still be incurring the costs of hiring which is expensive to me. I would also be doing my farming on a small acreage leaving a bigger portion of the farm unutilized. This would lead to my family not having enough food to last us till the next harvest. I am glad that will change for GiveDirectly made it possible for me to own the pair of oxen. To me, having the pair which I paid nothing from my pocket is the biggest achievement in my life.

We were living in abject poverty in our village with some lacking shelter and others could not even afford to provide food for their families. With the coming of GiveDirectly in our village, at least our lives have been improved because people are now building new iron-roofed houses which is an improvement from the grassy thatched homes and they can now also afford to provide food daily for their families. In my opinion, GiveDirectly has done well in ensuring that at least the level of poverty is reduced for our lives are not the same again. I also feel GiveDirectly should come back to our village and extend the period of this project so as to permanently alleviate this menace and continually give us the transfer. They should not move to other areas before witnessing a better impact of the transfer in our lives. To me, this is what GiveDirectly is not doing well and I feel that they should work on it.

I spent KES 46000 of the transfer on buying a pair of oxen and an ox-plough to aid me in my farming. Initially, I had none and I was hiring these services from my neighbors which was costly to me when ploughing a bigger acreage. I am happy that once I am through training the pair, I will be able to increase the acreage of my farm in order to obtain better yields. This will make my family to have enough food which will last till the next harvest. I will also be hiring to others in order to earn an income which I will either save or use it to cater for my family needs. I spent the rest of the transfer to pay for our household expenses and to meet other basic needs like foodstuffs and clothes for my children.

The biggest difference in my daily life is that I previously owned no livestock and it was never in my mind that I would -buy any in my life. Though my area is very much favourable to rear livestock, my ability was not that much. Its when GiveDirectly came and gave us the transfer and now I was able to buy them.

When I received the transfer, I was happy for it is long since I received such an amount of money and which I never expected in all my life that I would get it without working for it.

I depend entirely on agriculture for food production, thus I acquired a pair of oxen when I received my first transfer. Sometimes rains may not be adequate thus early preparation in farming and proper timing is always a concern for everyone who wishes to obtain adequate yields. To do this, I was hiring from neighbours which were expensive to me. A pair of oxen is vital as it boosts farming and helps in early planting and timely as the rain is due. Also with a pair of oxen, you are assured of cultivating a large tract of land which eventually leads to better yields. I will also be hiring to others which is a source of income to me. I was staying in my late brother's house after a heavy downpour swept away my house leaving me in the cold as I had no money to build a new house. Thus on receiving the transfer, I bought enough building materials and I am now in the process of building. I paid for school fees for my child who is in high school on the remaining amount of money.