Currently, I do not pay for house rent because I was able to construct my house after receiving GiveDirectly transfers. This has relieved me a lot on the expenses that I used to make on rent and has consequently allowed me to divert the little income that I get into other meaningful family investments that are geared towards improving our living standards as a family. In addition to this, I am now a proud owner of livestock, something I did not have before. I feel I am more empowered than I was before.

My spouse had an active food kiosk but when she delivered our newborn she had to close it down in order to find time to attend to our young child. It has been two years since she closed down the shop and it is for this reason that I am planning to raise some money that will enable us to revive her business and make more income for the family in the long run.

Before I was enrolled, I was staying in a rental house in a nearby center. This is because I did not have a house of my own. I always found it hard to raise money to pay for the house rent considering that I did not have any reliable source of income. When I received these transfers, I was able to save up and this has helped me to construct a new house. I am now living happily in my new house and I'm glad that the agony of having to look for rent is in the past. I am so proud of this achievement since it has brought the biggest difference in my life so far.

I am planning to save some of the coming transfers so that I can open up a small business for my spouse. Thereafter I'll use some of the money to purchase more sheep so that I can add to the one I had bought. I'm hopeful that after six months, I'll have saved enough money to both start up a business for my spouse and for purchasing a sheep. These investments shall be very helpful to me and my family in improving the living standards.

Four months ago, I was living in a rental house in a nearby centre which made it impossible for me to focus on farming because we lived far from home. After I constructed my house and moved here a few months ago, I ventured into farming because I can now tend to my farm and have enough space to keep livestock. Apart from the joy of being in my own private land and house, I now have livestock, poultry such as pigs, goats and chicken which I can be used for household consumption or can be sold for income.

My wife previously had a hotel business but she had to quit when she gave birth to our last born child. Now that the baby is old enough, we are planning to save the next few transfers we will be receiving from Give Directly so that we can revive the hotel business. This will be an extra source of income which will then ease the burden I currently have as the sole provider of my family.

With the help of the transfers I have been receiving from Give Directly, I have managed to buy the required house construction materials that I used to construct my own house. I used to live in a rental house that was quite costly which made it hard to for me to properly provide for my family or even save for any developments. I am now living in my own house where I do not have to worry about paying rent at the end of each month, and the money that was previously spent on rent can now be spent on household needs and other development projects.

When my wife paused her business, a year ago, life became a bit tough because I was left as the sole provider for the family because she could no longer support me. Being that I do not have a stable source of income and only depend on house construction jobs that are mostly unavailable, it has been quite tough on me. With the plan we have of reviving the hotel business, I hope that in the next six months, my wife will have a stable source of income to support to me in taking care of our household needs.

Currently, my life is different in that I have peace of mind since I am certain of building my own homestead which I have always longed for with the building materials that I have already bought to necessitate this project by using GiveDirectly's transfers. When this project comes to its completion I will longer have quarrels with my landlord over rent which is an issue at the moment because of the meager income that results in late payment.

My new goal is to save part of the transfer and buy a dairy calf . This calf in the unforeseeable future once their population increases significantly, I will be able to sell some of them to cater for emergencies such as paying school fees for my children and even to buy household items. I will also have enough supply of milk hence I won't buy milk from other people in the village as I do right now.

Before GiveDirectly came, I was staying in a rental house and when end months was approaching I didn't have money to pay rent I used to be stressed up because I couldn't bear my landlord quarrels and threats of eviction. The biggest difference in my daily life is that I have been able to buy building materials which will necessitate the construction of my homestead. I have a peace of mind since when this project would come to its completion paying rent will no longer be my worry.

I expect my life to change in the next six months in that I shall have saved enough money which will necessitate the construction of my homestead that I have always longed for and it never seemed to come to pass due to meagre income or none. Therefore the money I used to pay rent will be part of my saving for other investment projects such as paying school fees for my children.

The biggest difference in my life since I started receiving this transfer is that I now have a monthly income. I can budget well with the money to help support and meet my family needs and demands. Before I started receiving this transfer, I used to struggle through casual work to raise money for our daily meals and other family expenses. Life was a struggle and at times, we had to go for casual work with my wife and children so that we could get enough money to pay for their school fees whenever they were sent home for the same. Right now, I am happy even though I do get little income from casual work, I can top up with the monthly transfers to serve my family well.

I would want to have an investment for my family in terms of livestock. I want buy two goats which I feel is easier to keep as compared to sheep because the transfers are not much to aid me in buying a cow. These goats will act as a remembrance of Give Directly and investment for my family.

The other difference in my daily life is that I can afford three meals a day. Before I started receiving these transfers, I used to struggle through casual work and do odd jobs in the village to raise money to feed my family and to meet other family financial needs. As a result, most of the times when my children were sent home for school fees or someone in the house was sick, we would either have one or two meals a day so as to provide for other needs too. This was not going well with my family and my children had to go to my neighbour's house so as to get food. This was not a good show and used to bring shame on me. Since I started receiving these transfers, I have been able to ensure we take three meals a day in as much as I still provide for other needs.

I would like to build a new house because I feel the one I have now, is not the kind of a house I should have. It is small which cannot accommodate my family well. My children have to go to my neighbour's house to sleep and the roof is leaking though not much. I would want to save the transfers I get from GD to buy building materials for building a new house.