My new goal is to start a small business that will enable me keep up with the fast rising cost of living. I have in mind cereal selling business and in particular I would want to buy and sell maize. How I plan to do this is to use farm produce as the first stock or capital for that business. Right now I have maize in the farm and once I make the harvest, I will use part of it as stock and be able to start this business. Relying on farming of crops alone can really be disappointing and it is for this reason that I am planning to start the business.

In my opinion GiveDirectly did very well by giving us some form of education through the meetings that were held shortly beforr transfers were sent. This interaction provided us with very crucial information that enabled us to make informed decisions on what we could spend the money on. It also dispelled a lot of rumours that we had about the transfers and brought us to accept the program in totality.

I used KES 10000 to pay school fees for one of my children and used another KES 25000 to bring a house that I was constructing to completion. The amount that remained was used to pay part of dowry for my son and I am so happy that I was able to do all these with the transfers that I received from GiveDirectly. We normally rely on farming to get the money needed for various needs but this is sometimes affected by a great extent by bad weather. I therefore feel very happy and grateful to GiveDirectly for coming in handy to help us as a family meet our needs. With GiveDirectly I have been able to build a brand new house to completion and I will be moving in soon enough. The dowry payment for my son who recently got married has brought so much joy and happiness too within our family.

It was 7:08 am and I was on my way to the cowshed to milk the cow when suddenly my phone which I had with me rang hence notifying me of a new message. I stopped to check it and I could not believe my eyes when I read that I had received KES 55000 that we had been eagerly waiting for from GiveDirectly. I was so happy that my younger children noticed it. They asked me what was going on and I gladly told them what had happened. They were so happy on hearing this and they celebrated. I then, later on, talked with my elderly children and they helped me to plan how I was going to spend it.

The transfer has brought a very big difference in my daily life. I have had some peace of mind since my children now have enough food for their consumption having bought five bags of maize. They also have enough milk for their consumption since I managed to buy a cow with part of the transfer money. I also managed to clear school fees arrears for one of my children in secondary school and hence I no longer owe the school anything. I am hence so much grateful to GiveDirectly for supporting me.

I first took out KES 12500 of my recent transfer and I used to buy five bags of maize for our consumption. We didn't have maize for our consumption and hence we were incurring the cost of buying some every day. I then took out another KES 6000 that I spent on paying school fees for my child who is in secondary school. Other than that, I also bought a cow at KES 25000. I bought the cow because I didn't have my own and my children were lacking milk for their consumption. I hence usually buy milk at times when I have the money and this milk is only enough to prepare the morning tea. I then spent another KES 15000 on improving the house that I have been living in. We had built the house while my husband was still alive but we didn't manage to fully complete building it. I thus resorted to moving into it that way because I was left with more responsibilities after he passed on and I didn't have the money. I usually sell maize casually for someone during the market day. The money that I get paid is little, it is only enough to buy food for the children. I at times save it and I use it to pay school fees for them. Other than that, I also usually rear chickens and sell eggs. The money from the sales helps me in buying the small essential household items. At times, I sell a chicken or two when I am faced with an emergency. My children gave me some of their transfer money, and hence I added to what I had. I hence bought clothes for the children with the remaining amount.