After utilizing the second transfer as per my plans, I developed another goal that will see my children happy once I accomplish it. If I get some money, I will make sure that I construct a house for my children. By doing so, this will restore our privacy since as of now we are sleeping in the same house with them.

In my opinion, GiveDirectly is an empowering organization that enables people to acquire things they desired but could not because poverty. Initially, my family and I used to sleep in the kitchen since we could not afford a good house. As of now, we are living happily as a family since we moved from the kitchen to a better house.

Upon withdrawing the money, the first thing I did was buying three pieces of iron sheets and seven ridges to complete my house which I started using the first transfer from GiveDirectly. I also paid KES 5000.00 school fees for my six primary school children. Having done that, I bought a bed and a mattress for KES 8000.00 because I used to sleep in a small traditional bed with tone mats. Thereafter, I paid some few debts and used the remaining amount for the family upkeep.

It was around 10 in the morning when I was at my daily hustle(burning and selling of charcoal) in the nearby village then I heard my phone ringing. Since I was very busy at that particular time I opted to proceed with the exercise then the phone rang again. I was curious because it had never behaved in such a manner before. I decided to go back home ask one of the children to confirm what the notifications were all about. On checking she realized that it was an Mpesa message from GiveDirectly, they had debited my first transfers into my account. I was so happy because I knew finally I will be able to build a better hose. We all cebarated as a famjiloy ane thaked God fpr nringung GD into our lives.

The biggest difference in my daily life is that I am now sheltering in a spacious house with my children. For over ten years, I have been sheltering in a very small house which was a single room and it was very old and dilapidated. It could not accommodate all of us. This forced eight of my children to seek shelter from their friends whose houses are almost 2 KM from my house. This has frustrated me as a parent for a long but then I could not do anything. Sometimes I felt like I was the cause of all troubles they face in their lives. Most of the time, they could even fail to do their school assignments because there was no ample space for studying. This was affecting their academic performance in school. I never lost hope and I kept praying for them that this will one day come to an end. I really do not know how to thank GiveDirectly for all that it has done in my life. I am no longer mocked or called all sorts of names in society because I have my own house.

I spent a huge portion of my first transfer on buying some iron sheets at 18000, the building poles 4000, snails, and threads at KES 2000 respectively. This was for the construction of a new house because the previous one was small with a single room and some of my children had to sleep at their friend's and relatives' houses. Apart from that, its roof could leak excessively whenever it could rain and these were the worst days in my life. In addition, I had to spend KES 10000 of the money on paying the mason as his labor cost. I later cleared school fees for my five children at KES 3000 so that they could sit for their exam which was about to start in two weeks. Finally, with the remaining amount of money, I bought sufficient foodstuffs that would at least take us to the next harvesting season and some other household items like utensils.