Before the coming of GiveDirectly, I did not have a good house to stay with my family. The one that used to be home was in a bad condition and I couldn't afford to just renovate it. I am happy since I have built a decent iron-roofed house through the transfer. My life is different because I can now access to a good shelter. I also cleared my child school fees and it's my joy now that his studies are no longer interrupted concerning school fees.

In my opinion, GiveDirectly does well in giving us the transfer in order to improve our living standards. We were unable to meet the basic needs of our families, we couldn't access to a good shelter due to the poverty that had struck us. However, when we received the financial support from GiveDirectly, our lives are now changed because we have been able to build decent houses, taking our children to school and also owning livestock which are assets to us. I do not see anything that GiveDirectly does not do well.

I spent part of my second transfer on buying five goats which I am keeping in my homestead. My expectation is that these goats will reproduce and have many of them. I am proud to have them since they are assets that I can rely on to sort out my financial needs. In addition to this, I also paid KES 20000 to clear school fees for my son who is in high school. He is now comfortably continuing with his studies. I spent the remaining amount to buy daily foodstuffs and paying other household expenses.

I was always planning to build a house for a long time but my dream of owning one never came true until GiveDirectly came to my village and it's because of their financial support that I built my own house. So far this is the biggest difference that the transfer has brought into my life as I no longer shelter in my neighbors house like before.

When I received a message indicating that I had received money from GiveDirectly, I felt happier and peaceful than before for it was my very first time to receive such an amount of money. It was through this money that I knew that my life was going to change and I saw myself achieving what I had yearned for, for a long time.

On receiving my first transfer, I purchased some iron sheets and other building materials to construct my own house since I didn't have one. I was sheltering in my neighbours' house and I was not free at all and there was nothing I could do to save myself from this awkward situation until GiveDirectly came to my rescue. I also purchased a pair of oxen to help in tilling my farm for timely cultivation since I was not able to fully utilise my farm due to inefficient tools and I could only manage to farm a small piece. Now that I have the oxen, I will be able to fully utilize my large acreage for better yields.