Poverty was with us and poverty was us before GiveDirectly changed the theme. Our living situation was poor since my husband and I relied on making and selling charcoals for a living and catering for our children education. This source of income wasn’t sufficient for all those because we even slept without eating anything in some days. We were even unable to repair our house which was collapsing. But since the day I received the support from GiveDirectly, my family is singing some nice songs nowadays. I now have a nice two-roomed house not as before when I was living in a small collapsing grass-house. My children can now stay in school full time stress free since I paid some school fees for them. Lastly, we have food security nowadays unlike before when we used to toil in the sun for a whole day without getting anything tangible.

GiveDirectly has reduced poverty level in our area. Before the organization came, we were living in small houses which were congested and were in bad state. But currently our area is wonderful. Every household has a good and adorable house.

I am a mother of 6 primary school children. On receiving the 2nd transfer, I completed the construction of our new two-roomed house which I had already started using the 1st transfer. I made this decision because the house was a grass-house and was in the verge of collapsing. I also paid school fees for my primary school children so that they can have smooth learning sessions not like before when they were often in and out of school. I also bought 3 cows though one cow died last week due to the drought that we are experiencing in our area. The remaining amount I bought some clothes and some food for the family.

It was around 8 in the morning when I was heading to school for a meeting then I heard my phone ringing. That was a notification of a new message. Without wasting time, I decided to check its content. I felt so happy after realizing that it was an Mpesa message from Segovia Technology. I had finally received my first transfer and promised. Due to the excitement that I had, I even decided to go back home and staring the planning.

The biggest in my life is that I own a pair of oxen that I acquired through the transfers. For so many years, I have been aspiring to own it because of the financial difficulties, I could not afford. Before the coming of GiveDirectly into my life, I used to hire those of my friends which was relatively expensive. Also most of the time, I couldn't afford it and I had no option other than to do the exercise using my own hand which was absolutely tiring. Most of the time, I wasn't able to utilize my whole farm and ended up getting low yields which could not even sustain us for two months. I feel there is great relief now because I will no longer have to hire those friends. Also, I will be in a position to prepare my family on time. Besides, I will hire them for my friends at a fee and generate an income. Therefore I will be able to fend for my family with ease.

I spent part of my first transfer on buying a pair of oxen at a total of KES 28000. It has been my dream to own them for years purposely for my agricultural activities. Also, I cleared school fees for my six children, two in secondary and four in primary schools respectively. In addition, I bought iron sheets, building poles, nails, timber, and threads for the construction of a new house becasue the previous one was in a poor state and therefore it would collapse anytime. With the remaining amount, I am using it with enough food for the family