I have a new goal that I did not have before receiving the transfers which is to start a business of buying and selling goats. Currently, I do not have any job that I can rely on and I felt this business would empower me to cater to my household expenses.

In my opinion, GiveDirectly does well by offering us enough teachings concerning cash transfers. Some of us were not conversant with the Mpesa idea and I am proud to say that through them I have been able to do all the transactions without any challenge. Also, there were zero cases of theft and robbery in my village which was a result of proper teachings.

I spent a huge portion of my second transfer on purchasing two dairy cows at KES 50000. This has been my longtime dream to at least own a goat but I couldn't afford it because they were relatively expensive. I settled for the cows because their pastures are readily available and they require little supervision. I also cleared school fees of KES 2000 for my son in secondary school who was about to sit for his final exam. I am glad the cash transfers came in good times because this was frustrating me as a parent. With the remaining amount of money, I bought foodstuffs for the family that lasted two weeks.

It was around 9 in the morning when I was just relaxing with my family after aking breakfast then I saw a message notification on my mobile phone. I asked my helper to check who had sent a message at such an hour since it was so unusual. After checking, she realized that it was an Mpesa message from GiveDirectly. At first I thought it was a prank, but after checking for the second time I confirmed it was true. I felt so happy and I remember celebrating the whole day becasue we were certain that our lives would change.

The biggest difference in my daily life is that I have goats that I am currently keeping in my compound. I settled for the goats because as compared to other domestic animals, they normally have numerous benefits. First, they reproduce twice a year and their offspring mature very faster. This means that my livestock will increase in number within a short period. This will make me wealthier and I will be able to achieve most of my other long time goals. I have solely been relying on the odd jobs which could not cater to all basic needs like paying fees for my children on time. I am hopeful I will be able to sell some of the offspring and pay the school fees which will be a huge relief to me since it has been my major challenge. Also, I trust that providing for the family's daily bread will no longer be a struggle. I will forever be thankful to GiveDirectly for all they have done into my life, may continue to bless them.

For all those years, I have been longing to own livestock but I could not afford it since they were too expensive. Also, my financial status was very low and the little I could get could only cater to the family's daily bread. Therefore after receiving the first transfer, I bought five goats worthy of KES 20000. I am sob glad that finally, I was able to fulfill my long-time dream. In addition to that, I cleared fees for my two children who are in secondary school. They have been on and off and this was becasue it was not easy for me to clear the fees at the required time. As a parent, I feel so happy seeing them at school without any distractions. Lastly, I used the remaining KES 5000 of the money on buying enough foodstuffs like maize flour and I am so glad for now, my children no longer skip meals like before courtesy of GiveDirectly