My new goal is to open a workshop. I am mason and also a carpenter and I would like to open a workshop so that I can get more income that will enable me to provide for my family comfortably and to make other developments. This masonry and carpentry work is what I usually depend on to earn a living. The money that I get usually helps me in buying food and paying school fees for my five children.

GiveDirectly staff taught us well in the meeting that they held with the village members. They explained to us well about the program and they advised us to use the transfers to better ourselves. They were not biased in the enrollment process and they did not ask for a bribe. I hence do not see anything that they did wrong.

We spent KES 20000 of our recent transfer on building another main house. We have been living in a grass-thatched house and it has always been our wish to build another iron-roofed house just like most of our neighbors. We also spent another KES 19000 on building a sleeping house for our grown up boys. They have been sleeping in a house that used to belong to our parents. We thus saw it best to build them their own. We were not able to achieve the above before because we had not gotten the money for building the houses. So, when GiveDirectly came up with this program in our village, we saw the opportunity to finally fulfill our wish. With the remaining amount of about KES 10000, I used it to buy tools such as a hammer, etc that I usually use at my work. We are hence so much thankful to GiveDirectly for supporting us.

After a busy day and coming home late at night from the casual construction work I was doing in the neighborhood, I was recharged to a super exciting moment by the message I saw late in the evening at home. I was with my family getting ready to take our evening meals and on realizing that I had just received my first transfer from GiveDirectly barely an hour after. I was very grateful for the thought of finally settling school fees for my two secondary school kids. It was, even better that I could not check up my phone at the construction site since I was so busy until late when I could discover this with my whole family.

The biggest difference in my daily life is the relaxed atmosphere within the household that has given me an open mind to focus not only on the school fees clearance but also on other income-generating projects. This has enhanced a better savings routine with the informal saving group that I joined. I am glad that the casual labor I had been doing can earn me some amount that goes directly to the savings account.

With the great struggle I had been undergoing to clear the school fees for my son and daughter in secondary school in the past two years, the joy of receiving the first transfer of all the arrears was immeasurable. I am grateful that after an agreement with my household, I paid KES12000 school fees for my son and also KES8000 for my daughter. This is a great step in my household in that I have always been dependent on casual labor - construction work - to settle not only the school fees but also other household obligations. To curb the rising cost of living in the future, I also had to ensure that we get a lactating cow that brought an instant impact of stopping the purchase of milk from the neighborhood. We had been meeting the cost of a lactating cow from my brother in law and with this transfer, I made a complete payment of KES15000 that allow us to come home with the dairy cow. With the remaining amount, I spent KES 3400 on foodstuff, and also KES 8450 for my three sons and a daughter.