My life is different in that I started a small scale business of fresh fish that fetches well in this side since most of the people take fish as their favourite meal. This business has become a source of income to my household and a form of employment to me and other two people who help me in fish frying. I have a hope for each day as the little profits that I make from it gives me the potential to buy food to my family and even pay their school fees. I bought a cow that is soon calving and eventually will provide me with milk and ghee. The money that I have been spending to budget for milk could therefore be saved and used to meet other needs likes clothes. I managed to put one hectare of land onto sugarcane farming which I believe that in the next one and a half years will be harvested and add to my financial security. I stocked food in my house that will push me though to the next four months when the harvest will be ready. I am a person of worth and not a beggar. I can socialize with dignity and vigor. Thanks to GiveDirectly transfers.

GiveDirectly has lifts people from real poverty to empowerment. We realised that we lacked many things including clothes and even food to eat. People were given power to make choices of their best desires since the transfers were unconditional. The mode of transfer was also safe, secure, effective and efficient. I have not made any observations on hat never worked well worth mentioning.

I spent the transfer on purchasing a cow and three sheep. I used the remaining part to buy sugarcane cuttings that I used to plant on my two hectares of land. Livestock and crop farming are the major economic activities in this region in that they are forms of savings, wealth creation and economic power. I believe my children will go to school up to college level since I shall be able to o sell the livestock to meet their fee balances. The nutrition of my household will be improved as well hopping that the cow will provide me with milk. I also intend to sell the surplus milk and use the money to buy food.

The biggest difference is that I have a steady income from my fish business and a future expectation of income from my sugarcane and sweet potatoes. This has enabled me to pay school fees for my children and bought new school uniforms for them. Before my children were constantly sent home for fees and this interfered with their performance at school. Their school uniforms were old and torn that made other students make fun of them. I am hopeful that there will be an improvement now that I can keep them in school having cleared their fee arrears. They also look neat in their new school uniforms this makes me a proud a mother and builds their confidence all thanks to GD.

The moment I received my first transfer, I was very happy I knew that most of my problems were going to be solved from the root cause. I could afford a smile again.

Given that I did not have a parcel to do my farming, I used part of the money I received to lease two parcels of land. One had sugarcane that was 2 months old and the other had sweet potatoes planted on it. When they mature I will have an income from the proceeds. I also started a fish business. I now supply fish to my community members as a way of making a living which has increased my daily income. Initially, I used to do odd jobs like washing clothes for others to get an income. This was tiresome and the money made at the end of the day was not enough to sustain my basic needs and those of my household members.