My new goal is to renovate my house by constructing pillars and floor. This is because it is made up of mud and poles which are less durable and require frequent maintenance which is quite expensive.

In my opinion, GiveDirectly did well in coming up with the unconditional cash transfer program. What they did well was that the cash was sent directly to our phone and every household has the right to decide on how to spend the transfer to better their lives. I do not see anything that it does not do well.

I spent KES 42,000 of my second transfer to restart my livestock rearing by purchasing 4 goats and 2 cows. Previously, I had 5 cows and 6 goats but almost all of them died due to severe drought that strike our area a year ago. I was left up with one cow. After receiving my transfer, I decided to restart my livestock rearing a job that I had depended on to support my family of 2 members. In addition, I used KES 11,000 to purchase proper beddings for myself since I was using a small traditional bed and sacks as bedding that were not comfortable for us.

It was around 9 AM when I had gone to the farm when my phone started ringing loudly. I was so busy and opted t ignore the message notification. After like five minutes another message popped in and I was so curious, therefore I asked my daughter who has just joined me to check who it could be. After reading the contents, I couldnt believe what she said, it was an Mpesa message from GiveDirectly, I had finally received my first cash transfers as promised. I was so happy and decided to go back home since we couldnt even concentrate. I knew that I was going to meet most of my needs.

The biggest difference in my daily life is that the transfers have enabled me to construct a retail store. My elder and I have been hawking,( selling items clothes, foodstuffs, and even utensils). This was very tiring and we have been facing lots of challenges like the harsh climatic changes, being robbed and we could not carry heavy items at once. Therefore some days I just opted to sell them at home and I used to experience a loss because my village is scarcely populated. I have been yearning to construct a retail store but I couldn't afford it at all. The little we could earn a day was only for the family's basic needs like food, school fees ad clothing. Being a widow, raising six children has not been easy for me at all. For now, I am a happy entrepreneur because I have a retail store which 1KM away from the town center, and through this I believe the business shall grow. I am planning to add more stock which will result in good returns. Therefore I will be in a position to settle all my bills on time, unlike before whereby I had to struggle.

I spent part of my first transfer on buying building materials such as iron sheets at KES 16000, building poles at KES 8000, timber, nails, and the labor cost at KES 4500. I aimed to construct a retail store because for all that time I have been hawking from door to door. Also, I bought new beddings like a high-density mattress, a wooded bed, and bedsheets for a total of KES 12000. Initially used to sleep on the traditional made of very small ropes and I could alert complain of back pains. With the remaining amount of money, I am using it to buy food stuff for my family that would sustain us for three months. As a parent, I am so thankful and happier that my children no longer skip meals as they used to do.