My life is different than how it would have been had I not received the transfer. This is because I have been able to clear scho fees for my son who is in high school. I am now glad that he is able to concentrate on his studies as he will not be sent back home this year. With this, I am optimistic that he will pass well as he now have enough time for his studies.

In my opinion, GiveDirectly does well by giving out financial aid thus uplifting people from poverty and I do not see anything that they do not do well.

When I received my transfer, I spent KES 30,000 to build a house for my son. He had been sleeping in one of my relatives house and whenever they were around, he would have to walk around the village looking for a place to sleep. Also, I spent KES 18,000 to purchase a heifer. I settled on this since getting a good breed of bull has been difficult. Using the remaining amount, I bought some food and household necessities.

I was at the farm with some people planting maize when the M-pesa messages were being sent. Suddenly, I heard some people in the neighborhood shouting and celebrating and I wondered what was going on. I then started hearing the people that I was with saying that they have received the transfers. I became curious about hearing this and I immediately went to take out my phone that I had left in the pocket of my coat. I checked it and I could not believe my eyes when I saw that I had also received the M-pesa message of the transfer. I became so happy on seeing this and we celebrated with the people at the farm. We could not continue with the farm work because of the too much excitement and hence we left for our homes. I went to inform my wife about it and she was so happy about receiving the good news. We gave lots of thanks to God and GiveDirectly for the help that they had given us.

The transfer from GiveDirectly has brought a big difference in my family. I have been able to clear the school fees arrears that had become a headache to me. I hence no longer have the stress about where I am going to get the money to do so. My children will hence study well without their studies being interrupted by being sent home due to failure to pay their school fees. I have also been able to build another house for my family. We have hence been able to get more space that is enough for us and the children. We have also looked like our neighbors who have new houses roofed with iron sheets. The calf that I bought is a young bull. I decided to buy it so that when it grows, it will be moving around with the cows and servicing them. This way we will no longer be suffering where to get a bull when the cow needs one. We have also been able to sleep well and comfortably after buying the mattress and the blanket. Thank you GiveDirectly for coming up with this program of helping the needy, may God bless the work of your hands.

The transfer from GiveDirectly has helped us a lot. I was able to build another house and clear school fees arrears for our children that I still had at school. I also bought a calf with part of the transfer and with the remaining amount, I used it in buying a few household items, that is, a mattress and a blanket. I had huge school fees arrears and I didn’t know what I was going to do to clear them. Life has been tough ever since the Coronavirus pandemic struck our country. I depend on farming and I usually grow maize and beans that I supply to a school and in return, they give me money that I use in paying for my children’s school fees. So when the schools closed down due to the pandemic, I had nowhere to take my products and that is why getting money became a problem. My sons too were going for the circumcision ceremony and hence I incurred a lot of expenses during this period. I have also always wanted to build another house for my family but I didn’t have a chance to do so because school fees have been taking up a lot of the money that I earn. The transfer from GiveDirectly hence provided me with an opportunity to achieve what I have always wanted to do and hence I thank them so much for this support that they gave me.