My life is different than how it would have been had I never received the transfer. This is because I was able to finish building a house for my family that I had left it incomplete for so long. I started building this house in the year 2017 but had not been able to finish it due to insufficient funds. I am a single mother and meeting all our needs on time is straining and I am at times forced to leave some of my projects incomplete.

In my opinion, GiveDirectly does well by giving out unconditional cash transfer and there's nothing they're not doing well.

I spent part of my transfer to purchase a dairy cow. This is an investment to me that will help me save some money and have a source of income when it starts to reproduce. I will also be using manure from this cow on my farm so as to improve it's productivity. Also, I spent some amount to pay school fees for my daughter. I am now glad that I will not be forced to sell any of my assets in order to pay school fees for her. On the remaining amount, I bought some utensils that were not enough, some seat cushions and food for my family.

I was at home and I was busy preparing lunch for my family when I heard an SMS alert on my phone. I decided to check it and I could not believe what I saw. It was an M-Pesa SMS saying that we had received the lump sum amount of 55000/= from GiveDirectly. I was so happy to see this and I jumped with joy. My children asked me what was going on and I told them the good news. They were so happy to hear this and they started asking me to promise to buy them new clothes and shoes. I had to agree to their requests because their faces were full of excitement. I gave thanks to God because I felt that a way had been opened for me.

This transfer has brought a big difference in my life and that of my children. I have been able to build another house for my family and hence there is more space for all of us. We had only one house that we have been living in and it was small and roofed with grass. My children hence did not have a good place to sleep in and study because the house usually gets filled with smoke when I am cooking. They have hence been able to get their room to sleep and study well. January is usually a tough month and I usually have challenges getting money to buy school items and pay for my children's school fees. I thank GiveDirectly because the money came in at the right time just before the schools were reopened. I hence no longer have stress on where to get money to do so. My children will thus be able to study well without worries that they might be sent home due to school fee arrears. I have also been able to till and plant the piece of land that I had left untilled due to lack of money. The above has all been possible due to GiveDirectly. I appreciate them a lot for their assistance. May God bless them abundantly.

The transfer from GiveDirectly has helped me in a big way. I have been able to build another house and buy chairs for my house. I have a child who is in his final year of study in secondary school. There are some books and school items that he was missing. The transfer hence helped me in buying the books that were needed and the school items. I have also been able to buy new school uniforms for my other children and pay for their school fees. The money also helped me in my farm work. There is a piece of land that I usually till and plant but I had lacked the money to do so. The transfer hence helped me in tilling it and buying the seeds and fertilizers. I was not in a position to do the above things especially to build another house because I did not have the money. I depend on farming as my source of livelihood and the little money that I have been getting from the sale of farm produce has only been enough to buy food and pay school fees for the children.