I remain steadfast in my commitment to realizing my goal of constructing a new house, particularly after the collapse of my previous home during last year's heavy rains. With the acquisition of 16 iron sheets, I am optimistic that I have made significant progress towards this objective. These materials will form the foundation of a new, comfortable dwelling capable of accommodating my family of seven. Moving forward, my focus shifts towards procuring additional construction materials such as poles, nails, doors, and windows. Concurrently, I will begin saving the necessary funds to cover labor costs, ensuring steady progress towards completing the house. The day we achieve our goal and have a new home to call our own will be a joyous occasion, relieving us of the need to share my brother's residence or have my children stay in overcrowded conditions elsewhere. It represents a significant step towards stability and security for my family. Amidst these efforts, I remain dedicated to meeting the basic needs of my children. Their well-being and comfort remain paramount, and I will continue to prioritize their welfare as we work towards realizing our housing goal.

I returned to my maternal home after separating from my spouse, where I was graciously provided with accommodation. However, unfortunate circumstances arose when the house collapsed last year due to heavy rains, leaving me homeless. Since then, I have been relying on my brother's sporadically available residence, but his periodic return home makes me feel uneasy and uncomfortable. In response to this housing challenge, each month, I allocate approximately $20 of the transfers to purchase building materials, specifically iron sheets to construct a new house. I am pleased to report that I have acquired 16 iron sheets so far, a significant step towards realizing my housing goal. However, the progress of this plan has been impeded by the fluctuating income from charcoal making. At times, I have had to divert funds from the construction project to cover other essential household needs or contribute to my children's education expenses. As a single mother of seven, providing even the basic necessities for my children proves to be a formidable challenge. Despite these obstacles, I am grateful for the assistance provided by the transfers, which have played a crucial role in ensuring that all my children are enrolled in school, adequately fed, and have most of their basic needs met.

I am happy that I no longer have to rely on activities like charcoal making to meet their needs, thanks to the consistent support from the cash transfers. My goal is to construct a two-room house for my six children, providing them with a stable and secure home. Right now, we occupy my brother's house, and continuing to stay there may not be convenient in the future when he starts a family. Additionally, I aspire to venture into poultry selling. With the five hens acquired from the transfers, which have started breeding and the hope that the chicks will thrive, I anticipate establishing a successful poultry business in the future.

Since my house collapsed last year, I and my six children have been staying in my brother's space, who works in town and visits the village occasionally. While it has been convenient for now, I realize that he may need his house for his future family after he decides to get married. Consequently, I've decided to use the cash transfers to work towards building my own house. From the recent transfers, I allocated $68 to purchase seven pieces of iron sheets in preparation for the construction. Another $26 was utilized to clear the school fees balances for my six children, who had faced disruptions in their education due to unpaid fees. I'm glad that the cash transfers have eliminated these challenges, allowing my children to attend school without interruptions. The remaining $8 was spent on essential toiletry items like soap.

Some years back I lost my house to the rain. My house was so worn out and when the rain came it swept most of it away. I now live in my younger brothers house but with my big family the house is not sufficient. I have been buying material to allow me build a new house. Ihave bought iron sheets for a while now and will begin construction once I have a sufficient number of sheets. With earnings from my charcoal selling business I can only take care of the basics hence the house construction plan would not have been possible without Givedirectly.

I have been spending my cash uniformly on a monthly basis. I have been spending the money on iron sheets, food and school fees. I have 5 children in school who are school going, being a single mother they depend on me solely for their school fees. I spent $5 in March on school fees, $8 in April and $10 in May. I split it among the children depending on who has the biggest pending balance. I spent $20 monthly on 2 pieces of iron sheets. I spent $10 on food in March, $6 in April and $4 in May.

I am confident that once my house is finished, I will start a business of selling chicken by purchasing them in large numbers. Before, I was raising 50 chickens but a disease stuck and killed every fowl I owned. I wish to start that business because it's inexpensive to start and one can easily make a ton of money from that business and better one's life. I believe that the future is bright because the little things I do will make a big impact in my life.

I got married at a younger age, got divorced and returned home to live with my beloved mother. When I returned home, everyone saw me as an outsider and did not want to associate with me. Since I had no place to live, I decided to construct a small house out of polythene bags for myself. As soon as it rained, it was so heartbreaking to see my house fall to the ground. I remained homeless for some time until I made the decision to go borrow a room from my friend who works in Mombasa. When he returns, I leave the house for him and let him have some peace. The moment I received my transfers, I made the decision to build a good house for myself to avoid the hassle of borrowing one. I have so far bought 11 metal sheets that each cost $10 and it's remaining 5 metal sheets and building stones for my house to be officially started. Thanks to GiveDirectly, I can now save enough to start the process of building my own house.

What GiveDirectly is doing well was deciding to give out the transfers on a monthly basis rather than giving out lump sum which I believe would have been mainly used for short-term goals. Community members have used the transfer in constructive things like starting poultry businesses, keeping livestock, buying food for the family, house building, and payment of fees which has seen the living standard in Mnazimwenga rise. I also liked the unconditionality of the transfers since we had the freedom of choice. Just to add that thinking to issue out phones to those who never had phones in the village was a plus for me.

I stay with my mother back in the village of Mnazimwenza after I got separated from my husband. I am a mother of 7 and I sell charcoal on small scale to support my family's demands. In a week, I can only manage to make $ 12 which is too little to support the entire family's demands such as food, fees, and medical expense.  Due to the tough economy, my mother always chips in to support the family's wants. I feel so enlightened and happy to be part of GiveDirectly beneficiary since the money brought a great change in my life. Before receiving the transfer, I couldn't afford to buy bar soap, I am glad to ascertain that I was able to buy a bar soap for $ 15. The family has now gotten the opportunity to clean their clothes without repeating the dirty clothes over and over before washing them.  Nevertheless, my greatest challenge is room to sleep in.  It is so painful how I have been begging for a place to sleep in the village with my 7 children. At the age of 35, it is so shameful to share the same room with my mother together with my sons. Because of this, I am looking forward to starting the building of a single-roomed house so that I don't move around the village begging again for a place to stay. With my second transfer, I bought 3 iron sheets for $ 28.5 and I plan to use my next transfer for the same until when I would have bought 16 iron sheets and the materials I need to build the room.

Having engaged myself in a tedious work of uprooting the tree stumps the previously day, I decided to have an off. However, at around 4pm I received a message alert from my phone. Upon checking it, I realized that GiveDirectly had sent me the cash as promised. Full of jubilations, I informed my mother and the following day I went and withdrew the cash and used the proceeds to pay school fees for my two children. I also took care of other family needs

The biggest difference in my life since I started receiving transfers is having managed to clear my two children's school fees thus saving me the energy and time of giving promissory notes to the school teacher. Initially I did not have cash to clear school fees until GiveDirectly came through for us.

When I did receive my recent transfer, I opted to clear my two children's school fees since it was long overdue. Besides, I did buy several chicks for purposes of raiding them for eggs. I can also sell them Incase of emergency later on. Furthermore, I did buy food for my family of nine who had not have a decent and balanced meals for two days. For me to take care of my family, I have been uprooting stumps and then I convert them into charcoal. I am glad that GiveDirectly came through for us financially and it did help us a great deal.