Through the unconditional transfers from GiveDirectly, I fulfilled my dreams of having and rearing livestock of my own. I am happy that throughout this tough time, I can take care of the challenges that come my way. I would like to urge the organization to increase the amount of the transfer so that we can keep up with the rising costs of essential commodities.  

I am currently of age and depend fully on my daughter to take care of me. My husband passed away 25 years ago, and I was left with the sole responsibility of taking care of the family. (4 children). I educated all of them and, through that, I exhausted all my savings. I feel much fulfillment in my heart that I could educate all my children. Back home I have been practicing subsistent farming on my farm for the last 10 years. Lack of rain has made it impossible to earn a living from crop farming. It is because of this reason that I spent KES 2000 to buy a goat and venture into animal farming. Staying at home without working is boring. Having the goat will kill the boredom since I will have to take it out to the field to graze. Depending on my daughter who works in town as a housemaid is not smooth sailing as she sometimes cannot send me money back home. These days I sleep hungry and I am sometimes forced to incur some debts by buying the food. Because of the tough experiences of lacking food, I bought food in bulk (7 packets of maize flour, 2kg of beans, and tea leaves) so that I would not run out of food.

I was resting under a tree in my home compound during the mid-morning ours. While still resting, my phone rang out loudly and checked it out. I found I had received a text message. Being illiterate, I could not read the message. I called my grandson, who read the message and informed me I had received the transfer. I was thrilled and murmured a small prayer, thanking God for the funds. My grandson to withdraw the money, and I paid school fees for him to go back to school.

Yes, the transfer has brought a big difference to my life. I had never owned a phone before. I am now grateful that through the transfer I have a phone which I used to communicate with my relatives. The transfer was also very helpful in ensuring that my grandchild was back in school and continue with his learning.  

Now that I am old, I am disadvantaged in that I cannot work and fully depend on my relatives to take care of me. Because of the harsh economic times we are currently living in, my son has been struggling to take care of both his family and me. Immediately after I received my transfer, I spent KSH 500 to pay school fees for my grandchild who was away from school due to school fees arrears. His father could not pay the money because he dint have any money and I opted to help. In addition, I spent the remaining KSH 600 to buy three chickens. To avoid the boredom that comes along with staying at home doing nothing, the chicken will help. I will actively take care of them, hence making me engaged all the time.