I have an additional goal of looking for ways to raise college fees for my son who is in his final year in college. We mainly farm for subsistence use which has been our main source of income. I am glad we now have an additional income from milk sales of a cow we bought with the first transfer. I am, therefore, planning to save some income from the milk sales to cater for college fees.

In my opinion, Give Directly is doing a great job of helping people improve their living standards. Through the support they give, most people have been financially empowered since they make a decision on when, how, and what to spend the money on. On other hand there is nothing Give Directly is not doing well.

I bought a water tank at a cost of KES 20000 for harvesting rainwater. We usually walk for more than half an hour in search of water. Fetching enough water for daily household use is not a walk in the park. It not only consumes a lot of time but energy too. The water tank has been of great relief since I bought it. It holds 3000 liters which we can use for a whole month. KES 16000 I paid in school for my son's college fees. It has been a struggle to raise the fee since we have been depending on subsistence farming and only sell the excess produce once in a while. The rest of the money I spent on iron sheets that I used to complete my house which was halfway. The previous house was too small to fit my large family of seven, but we still squeezed ourselves in it because we had no choice.

I felt the need to acknowledge the presence of God the moment I received a message from GievDirectly. It was early in the morning and with the phone in my hand, I could not resist the curiosity to confirm the content of the message that I had just received. To my utter surprise, I had received the much-anticipated transfer from GiveDirectly. My excitement drew my husband's attention, and he came running towards me. He had to read the message first before joining me in celebration. We were so happy and thanked God since we had been hoping to get this money soon so that we can hold back the neighbor's cow that he wanted to sell.

The biggest difference in my daily life is the joy of finally owning a cow after fully paying my neighbor. It would have been so hard for us if we would have missed a chance to bring the cow back home. Even though we had gotten this money, using it in buying milk would not have lasted any longer. I am grateful to GiveDirectly for the timely support that we are now enjoying its fruits with my family.

We had been dependent on a neighbor's cattle that had been providing us with enough milk for our home use and surplus for sale. It was unfortunate for us that the owner took it back a month ago as he needed to sell it out as he had some pressing needs and the only asset he could turn to was the cow he had helped us with. It was a mixed feeling for us in that we felt bad seeing the cow leave and at the same time we were so grateful for the great support we had been getting all along. Meeting the milk expenses over this period was so hard for me and the family as we had not gotten used to it. We could miss a cup of tea at times which was so hard explaining to my children. This gave us a lot of pressure, and we had to think of a way to secure it or better still buy another one in case it would have been sold out earlier. On receiving this money, we could not wait but called our neighbor who agreed to sell us both the cow and its calf at KES50000. We are now back to getting enough milk for my children and selling some to earn us some income too. With the remaining amount, I paid KES3000 school fees for my child in secondary school and bought household goods with the remaining KES1000.