After the drought hit us, I had a boutique business at first, but it failed because of my dependency on it. I now envision doing the same business as soon as I have some cash. I choose this business since I have a lot of experience in it and there isn't any competition in our neighborhood. I intend to take out a loan to launch the business once my shares allow it since I save some money on a merry-go-round with my colleagues.

Every household, and more so the entire village, received a new look thanks to this program. We were given the freedom to choose how we would use the transfer without being forced to. There is nothing I can find to complain about, other than to urge GiveDirectly to continue helping more villages.

After receiving the second transfer, I made the decision to convert my mud-walled house to a block-walled one. I had already used the initial transfer to purchase the building blocks. I use $180 of the second transfer to construct the walls as a result. Thanks to GiveDirectly, I am grateful to have a residence right now. I once more finished building a pit latrine that I had already begun by spending $30 on the toilet. This is a success since it has earned me back my respect because a house without a toilet is not treated with the necessary deference by society. I have six kids, five of whom are still in school. I used $64 to cover their tuition costs. In order to secure food security at home during the drought season, I spent $78 on three bales of maize flour and $28 on a 25kg sack of rice.

That day, I had gone to certain town far away from home for a sacco meeting. My phone was off until midday because of the meeting and when it was adjourned, I switched it on. No sooner did I switch it on than a message popped and I realized it was a cash transfer message. I quickly opened the message because I was not expecting money from anyone and WOW! I had just received my first transfer from GiveDirectly. I was so happy as I went to withdraw the money and headed back home.

Everyone loves privacy and so we do. For the longest time that we had been living with our six children in a single room, we have never had our privacy as parents. Now that we were able to build a two rooms house, we have a separate room and we own our privacy.

My family( husband and six children) have been living in a tiny muddy single room. We have all desired to have a bigger permanent house but since we all depend on my husband who is a painter, he was not in a position to build us a better house because of other family responsibilities. living in a high poverty level region where most people build muddy houses, he rarely gets jobs and when he does, the little that he earns is only enough to provide basic needs and pay school fees. When our household was enrolled in the program, our plan was to build a permanent house. I spend, KES 49,500 to build a permanent two rooms house, KES 3600 to buy two bundles of maize floor, KES 1700 to buy a water tank and KES 3500 to buy my husband a phone.