I have a new goal which is to go back to school and enrol on a tailoring course. I have recently had the passion of being a tailor since I feel this is one of the easiest and most well-paying careers. Therefore I will join college and grab the skills, I believe that I will be able to seek jobs in industries as went as create self-employment businesses. This will help us grow as a family since my spouse has been taking care of our needs for all those years which has never been easy for him at all.

In my opinion, GiveDirectly does well by helping the neediest individuals in my village. Unconditional cash transfers have brought a very big impact on our lives. Currently, 100% of us have iron-roofed houses, and livestock and our children are also in school. Additionally, some of us now own businesses which have equally uplifted our living standards. I, therefore, do not see anything that GiveDirectly failed us.

I spent $200 of my second transfer on settling a debt to a friend and I now feel that I have peace of mind. He has always been requesting his cash for months now but I couldn't afford to refund him because of the financial hitches I was undergoing. Also, I used $50 of the cash for the burial preparations of my grandmother who has been battling stomach complications. Additionally, I bought two goats for $60 which will serve as living assets that I can rely on at any time. I am hopeful that through these goats, I will achieve a lot since they normally reproduce twice a year and their offspring mature very fast. Therefore I do believe that I will have many of them within a shorter period. With the amount of money that had remained, I bought decent clothes for my two children and sufficient food which took us almost a month. It is now a relief to us because we no longer borrow food from neighbours like we used to do.

It was around 7 pm while I was taking my dinner when I received a message on my phone that I had held in my left hand. I immediately checked to confirm what type of message it was, only to find out that it was the first transfer of KES 55000.00 from GiveDirectly. I felt so happy for receiving the money knowing that, my plans of getting an income-generating activity were going to pass.

Initially, I used to make charcoals for sale while my husband was riding our neighbor's motorbike for a living. The two sources of income combined could not cater to the family's needs thus our living status was pathetic. Getting this transfer from GiveDirectly has changed our lives for the better. We generate income from the motorbike that we bought and it is serving our family well. I am very grateful to GiveDirectly because if it were not for them, we would not be having the motorbike for business as a family.

My husband had been riding our neighbor's motorbike for a while to make a living for us. This kind of job was not reliable since most of the money he got went to the motorbike owner. When I withdrew the money, I agreed with him to buy a motorbike so that he would be saving all the money he gets daily without dividing the amount with any external person. Based on that, I bought a motorbike for KES 40000.00. This is being used in light transport such as ferrying some people from one destination to another. I also bought a mattress for KES 6000.00 because the one I had was too small compared to the size of the bed and as well as worn out. For the remaining KES 4700.00, I bought some food and clothes for my family since they had no good clothes.