I spent part of my second transfer on buying some building poles at KES 4000 and iron sheets at KES 10400. I had intended to construct a new house for my son who used to sleep at his friend's house since our house was not spacious enough. He used to experience lots of challenges while at his friend's house since there was no privacy. As a parent, I thought I had failed him. I also paid a dowry of KES 20000 to my in-laws and there is now peace in my entire household. With the remaining amount, I bought food that would take us for the next three weeks.

In my opinion, I do not see anything GiveDirectly is not doing well in the villages. This is because, since they came into our lives,  our lives have completely changed positively. We can now access good shelter, 90% of the household now own livestock and all our children are now in school.

I do not have any new goals apart from those I shared earlier on. I had been yearning to at least sleep in a better place and I am happy that this was achieved. I managed to buy the high-density mattress and a bed and this feels like a miracle to me because, for over thirty years, I have been sleeping on the floor. I used to experience lots of fatigue and pains every morning. I am so happy that this is now a history courtesy of GiveDirectly.

I gave KES15000 to my three children to equally share amongst themselves, to get the personal items that they needed because as their parent, it is my responsibility to get them the personal items especially for my two daughters still in school. I was not able to get them the personal items before because I neither have nor engaged in any reliable income-generating activity which used to give me so much stress but ever since I got enrolled in this GiveDirectly program and getting the money, I was able to offer my children the care they deserve which makes me a very proud parent. I also spent KES10000 to settle my daughter-in-law's dowry debt because we owed our in-laws and in our culture, it is a sign of goodwill between the two families when we settle such debts. Therefore, I am as well a very proud mother-in-law because I know my son cannot be blamed or bad-mouthed because of owing his in-laws.

The biggest difference in my life is the things that I was able to get since I started receiving payments from GiveDirectly. I was able to get a bed and a mattress, and was able to earn our much-deserved respect from our in-laws after settling the dowry debt we owed them. I am so happy and grateful.

I was so happy the moment I got the money because I knew that I had gotten something that was going to help me fulfill the desires that I had been having. I needed a bed and a mattress because I had been sleeping on the floor, so I was so grateful when I got the money.