The coming of GiveDirectly to me was a life changer that I could only dream of. I never thought that I would one day sleep on a modern bed and a mattress. I used to sleep on an old traditional bed with mats as bedding. They were not as comfortable as compared to the new mattress and a new modern bed that I now sleep on, courtesy of GiveDirectly. Secondly, we have not been able to do farming for almost a year due to the drought that has persisted all over our area, thus getting meals has been a major challenge since I do not have a stable source of income to rely on. I thank GiveDirectly because since they initiated this program most of the families have never lacked. Personally, I have been able to provide three meals a day which was unheard of. We used to only take breakfast and supper which was also not guaranteed. Lastly, my house was not spacious enough to accommodate my family and I had to squeeze my things in order to get some space. Through the support, I managed to buy some building materials such as iron sheets and poles and built an extension of two additional rooms. I am no longer worried of shortage of space.

In my opinion, GiveDirectly does well in giving the cash without strings attached since it is boosting our economic wellbeing. We are currently affected by a severe drought that has persisted for months now. This has made it impossible to do farming which has been our main source of food. Another activity has been burning and selling charcoal which is no longer possible to do, we are left at the mercy of God since we do not have other sources of income to depend on. However, through the financial support from GiveDirectly, we are now able to meet the most important basic needs such as shelter and food. We have built new houses for our families. I do not see anything that GiveDirectly does not do well, everything is okay with their operations.

I spent KES 25000 of my second transfer on purchasing building materials. I bought 20 pieces of iron sheets, nails and timber for roofing. My house was not spacious enough and I built an extension of two additional rooms to make it big enough to accommodate all of us. I also paid for labor cost incurred in the process. I am happy that I will not be squeezing my items for space again. Apart from this, I also saved KES 10000 which I am planning to start a shop for selling food items in a few months to come. This will serve as a source of income for me even after completing both my first and second batch. I spent the remaining amount on buying foodstuffs like bales of flour to feed my family and a twenty five kilogram of rice which will sustain us for a while. I also to pay for some household expenses such as water and other expenses. Currently there is drought in our area and for some months to come we will have to to buy water for ourselves and for our animals. This money has enabled me to fulfill all the pressing issues I had, we have enough food despite the challenge of the poor harvest last season that resulted due to inadequate rains.

I can still recall just like yesterday around 9 AM when I had attended an event in the nearby village when my phone started ringing. I even decided to ignore it since I was not expecting to hear from anyone at that particular hour. After like three minutes it rang again and that made me suspicious. I asked one of my children who have accompanied me to the event to check the content of the notification. On checking, she realized that it was an Mpesa message from Segovia Technology. I was overwhelmed with joy and we even decided to return home and started the planning.

The biggest difference in my daily life is that through the cash transfers I managed to renovate my house. Previously, I stayed in a very small house with a single room and in very poor condition. Being old and jobless and my spouse depended only on our children who also rely on odd jobs. Sometimes, providing for our daily meals was not achievable. This means, renovating our house would probably take ages. During the rainy season, it was so stressful and we have been seeking shelter from neighbors. However, after receiving the financial help I had to prioritize it. I am now glad and even proud because we longer seek shelter like before ad I am also in a position to host visitors courtesy of GiveDirectly.

I spent part of the first transfer on buying a wooden bed and a mattress at a total of 120 USD. Previously I used to sleep on the traditional beds made of ropes which had lots of discomforts. I also bought two goats KES 95 USD which will now be the living assets that I can rely on at any time. In addition, I bought several building materials like iron sheets, building materials, and timber which cost 240 USD. I bought all these with an aim of renovating the previous one was small and in critical condition. With the remaing amount, I am using it in buying food for my family.