My current living conditions are dire, with my house in a dilapidated state and the walls on the verge of collapse. Despite making some repairs in the past, the structure still poses a safety risk to my family of four. In an effort to improve our living situation, I have taken steps towards constructing a new two-room house. I recently purchased six pieces of iron sheets, a significant step towards realizing my goal. However, I still need to acquire six more sheets along with other necessary building materials. To achieve this, I intend to continue saving money through the savings group, prioritizing the completion of our new home. I am incredibly grateful for the financial assistance provided by GiveDirectly, as it has been instrumental in enabling me to work towards securing a safer and more stable living environment for my family. With determination and the continued support of the transfers, I am confident that we will achieve our goal of a new home.

I shoulder the responsibility of caring for my two grandchildren, ensuring their basic needs such as food, clothing, and education are met. Prior to being enrolled in GiveDirectly, I earned a living by selling charcoal, a physically demanding job that took a toll on my health, resulting in frequent severe chest pains. Now, I heavily rely on the monthly transfers from GiveDirectly to support my family of four. I allocated $30 towards school fees for my two grandchildren, ensuring they can continue their education without significant disruptions. Additionally, I set aside $30 in a savings group with the intention of investing in livestock to improve our quality of life. With the funds saved from the transfers, I have already acquired 1 cow and 7 goats, which I consider a significant and promising investment. The remaining $42 was utilized to purchase food for my family, ensuring that we never go without a meal. Despite the health challenges that limit my ability to work and generate income, I am immensely grateful for the financial assistance provided by the transfers. It has played a crucial role in enabling me to fulfill my role as a caregiver and provide for my family's needs.

Looking ahead, my goal is to continue contributing to the merry-go-round club as I have been doing for the last few months, accumulating a lump sum that will enable me to buy more livestock, particularly goats. Currently, I have six goats obtained through the same approach. I believe that even after the cash transfers end, the livestock will serve as a valuable asset, helping me meet the needs of my household. As a widow with no external support, I must independently provide for myself and support my two grandchildren.

I recently experienced the loss of my co-wife, and I contributed $10 towards the burial arrangements, specifically for food. After the burial, I spent $14 on purchasing food as there was a shortage, and I needed to feed my two grandchildren who majorly depend on me. Additionally, due to the heavy rains, one mud wall of my house collapsed. To address this, I spent $24 on buying building poles and hiring someone to repair the wall. I am happy it was well repaired and it is now sealed. I also saved $30 through a merry-go-round club, intending to use the money when my turn comes to purchase livestock and create a source of wealth. As I don't have a sole provider, I believe that owning livestock will be a valuable source of income. Recently, I got an injury from a thorn prick on my leg, which has prevented me from engaging in strenuous jobs. I am happy and grateful that the cash transfers have been crucial during this period.

In the near future, I aim to extend a room to my one-roomed structure, that will provide enough space for my two grandchildren, my son and me. However, the process is expensive and the materials are costly but I am determined to persist and achieve this goal, with the help of the cash transfers. Once we have the new room, I will then begin saving towards acquiring livestock. As a widow at an advanced age, engaging in physically demanding charcoal burning, I believe that rearing livestock will provide a stable source of income and improve my family’s overall well-being. Providing for my daughter's two children, who are now under my care, further motivates me to work towards a more secure and comfortable living situation for our entire family.

My primary goal has been to have a bigger house to accommodate my two grandchildren and my child. The current one-room structure is not sufficient for our entire family, so I've been working towards extending it. To make this possible, I have been saving $10, and by the time I received the transfer, I had accumulated $70, which greatly helped in purchasing the necessary iron sheets for the extension. I am delighted with this progress. Additionally, I saved another $10 for a savings group to further support the construction project, and the remaining funds were used to purchase food for the family.  As a widow, I have no one to support me. To provide for myself and the three children under my care, I often rely on casual jobs such as making charcoal. With such limited income, it has been challenging to meet all our needs. However, the cash transfers have been a tremendous help and I cannot express enough how grateful I am for them.

I am not happy that my house is broken in one of the rooms. Besides, it lacks a door, which makes most of the nights feel unsafe for my family. I would be happy if I restored the damaged mud walls and install a door by the end of the year. Though hunger is still an issue in my house, I have decided to save most of my monthly transfers to aid the renovation exercise. Am afraid that if I only focus on buying food, I would never achieve anything more, hence the need to save. 

Being a widow, I have nobody to support me in providing for my family, which includes my daughter and her two children. To gey by, I occasionally make charcoal, which I sell to raise money for food. Sadly, there is nothing more I can afford with what I make, other than food only. My heart aches that I have not been able to send my two grandchildren back to school, after they were sent home last month to collect school fees. Also, one room of my house collapsed and is in dire need of renovation. Therefore, I decided to save $20 from the cash transfer through a self-help group. I intend to use these savings later when I will be repairing my house. Also, as the breadwinner, I bought food with the remaining $14. 

My main objective for the this year is to improve the condition of my home. My two-room thatched house's back walls gave way after last year's heavy rains. The large opening in the wall has a negative impact on my children because of the humid nighttime weather. In addition, the absence of a door in my home makes it extremely challenging to safeguard my belongings inside. After my husband passed away, I was left as the family's sole provider, which made it challenging to repair the house because I don't make enough money to do so. I'm happy that the transfer's proceeds will help me accomplish this year's goal of improving the house's condition.

After my daughter got married into another family, she left her two children in my custody back in the village. Fending for myself and these children is tough considering am a widow with no reliable source of income. The only way I can raise money to meet needs like food and school fees is charcoal burning which does not pay much. In fact, we had slept hungry for two consecutive nights when I received the transfer. Moreover, the children had missed classes for three weeks because of overdue school fees balances. Receiving the money from Give Directly brought a lot of relief. Apart from spending $23 on food, I used the remaining $11 to reduce the tuition fees. At least, the food has lasted the family to date. Moreso, the children happily resumed school and managed to take their end-of-year examinations without interruptions.

I am advanced in age hence I can least take part in any work strenuous work. Even engaging in farming has recently become difficult for me. So when I received my transfer, I opted to buy foodstuffs because I had gone for two days without eating. I spent KES 1,500 on buying maize flour while the other KES 1,500 helped me in acquiring other foodstuffs. Since I received my recent transfer, I have been having adequate food for my family. I am indebted to GiveDirectly for its timely support.

The unconditional transfers from GiveDirectly have helped me achieve some of my long-term dreams. I had always wanted to fix a door in my house but due to my low income; it has not been possible. I would like the organization to increase the transfer amount so that I can be able to take care of my family well during these hard times.  

Imagine living inside a house without a door. This has been my life for the past 10 years. After my husband passed away, I became the sole breadwinner of my family (4 children). Without a reliable source of income, it has been challenging for me to save money to buy and fix a door in my house. Because of having no door, I have lost my property, such as clothes and furniture. My children and I feel insecure during the night because we fear for our lives. Therefore, when I received my transfer, I spent it all on buying one piece of iron sheet, two pieces of timber, and door hinges I used to make and fix the door in my house. I am happy that I now sleep with my children and the property in the house is very secure.

My phone rang loudly while I was busy arranging pieces of wood to make charcoal. I checked it out and found out that I had received a text message. Because of my illiteracy, I could not read the contents of the message. I continued with my work and a few hours later; I was back home. Back at home, I was welcome with the sounds of ululations by my relatives, who were thrilled. After inquiring about the cause, they told me they had received their first transfer. I was very anxious and asked my son to read the message for me and he confirmed I had too received the money. I joined the rest as we sang in happiness.

I have noticed a big difference in my life since I received the money. I have now mastered a new culture of saving what I earn unlike before where I would spend everything I had. Currently, I am saving enough to buy a door for my house. This will ensure that my properties in the house are safe whenever I am away from my home.

Immediately after I withdrew my first transfer, I spent KSH 625 to buy 4 packets of maize flour. I decide to buy the maize flour as I had no food in my house at all. With the effects of the drought hitting us hard, we can longer work in the farm and I have had to cut down trees, thickets and bushes to make charcoal. Making charcoal is tedious and takes long before one can start selling. With the low demand, it takes time for me to sell the sacks and get money. That means there are days where I have to skip meals and even sleep hungry. Besides buying food, I saved KSH 500 in a chama. My house does not have a door, and it is too small as I now have my grandchildren living with me. The main reason for saving the money in a chama is to save as much as I can to buy a door and fix my house and also expand my house to a two bedroomed house to accommodate my growing family.