I have a goal of building two houses, the main house and one which the boys can sleep in. I had planned before receiving the transfer that I will build the houses but I was not able to because I decided to prioritize the payment of school fees for my five children. I had not paid their school fees and I didn't want them to be sent home. I do not have the large sum of money that is needed to build the houses but I plan to save little by little part of the money that I make from doing casual jobs. I usually engage in casual jobs such as farming and construction work and I am usually paid approximately KES 2500 when I am done with the work. With the savings I can buy the building materials bit by bit. I want to build another main house because the one that we live in has become small and the family size has grown. The house where my boys sleep in is also small and it has grown old. I have not been in a position to build other houses because most of the money that I make usually goes to the payment of school fees for my children.

GiveDirectly did well because they enabled me to pay school fees for my children. I didn't know where I was going to get the money to do so. The lives of the people in the community were uplifted because they were able to make many developments with the transfers. Most of them built new houses while others bought livestock and paid school fees. I, however, would like to recommend to GiveDirectly to reconsider giving more money than usual to the elderly people who are sick. This is because when they receive the transfers, most of the whole of it usually goes to their medical expenses. They, therefore, end up with nothing yet most of them would have wished to make developments such as building new houses.

I spent the whole of my second transfer on paying school fees for my five children. I had not paid for their school fees and I feared that they were going to be sent home due to the arrears. Getting money to pay for the school fees has always been a challenge because I do not have a stable source of income. My wife is a small-scale subsistence farmer while as for me I depend on casual jobs to earn a living for my family. I usually do casual jobs such as farming and construction work and I get paid approximately KES 2500 after I am done with the job. From this amount, I take out KES 1500 and use it to pay school fees while the remaining KES 1000 I use in buying food and other household items such as soap, sugar, etc. I am therefore so much grateful to GiveDirectly for coming through for me because I didn't know where I was going to get the money for paying school fees for all my children.

The moment I received the transfer I felt so happy. I remember it was around 9am. I had left my phone charging. When I returned I saw a message and I reluctantly check out who might have texted me. I didn't expected any messages from anyone. It was a message confirming that I have received money from GiveDirectly. I felt so happy and overwhelmed with joy. I immediately inform my family members and they were also happy. I knew would be able to pay school fees for my son who was to join university. I went and withdrew the money the same day and planned with my spouse.

The biggest difference in my daily life is that I was able to pay school fees for my son who was joining the University. He was to joined the previous semester but because I didn't had the money, he didn't. I depend on casuL jobs in the village and the amount of money that I get through this is so small and cannot meet all the basic needs of the family including paying school fees for other children in secondary school. Currently I was able to take my son to university. I am so happy because this was my biggest problem that was solved out at once. My son now is so happy and studying at school. I have piece of mind to work hard to save money for the next semesters. GiveDirectly has enabled me to educate my son and I am so grateful for the support.

I spent KES 41,000 to pay school fees for my two children in the universityn. One was joining while the other one had already joined. I paid KES 10,000 for school fees for those in secondary school. I am so grateful for the support because I was able to clear the school fees on time. I purchased one sofa set seats and the rest of the money I bought food and clothes for my children. I am so happy because GiveDirectly has changed our living standard.