My new goal is to expand my grocery business. I usually sell vegetables and fruits on a stand. I want to expand it by opening a shop and buying more items for sale, that is, maize, beans, and millet. The grocery business is small, and I have four children who are in school, two in secondary school, and two in primary school. The money that I make, I usually save most of it through the merry-go-round contributions in the self-help group that I am in. We usually contribute KES 550 every week. The money that I usually get when it reaches my turn to receive, is what I use in paying school fees for my children, and is not enough. My husband on the other end does not have a stable job. He usually engages in casual work of being a driver and the work is not always available all the time. We hence mainly depend on the business. Expanding the business by buying more items for sale will mean getting more income which will be enough to cater for all the needs of my family of six. I however, do not have the money to do so at the moment.

GiveDirectly did well by organizing an entry-level meeting with all the community members before embarking on the enrollment process. The people got to understand what the program was all about. They are perfect in their work and hence I urge them to continue with the same spirit.

We spent on various things that were important to us. We spent approximately KES 10000 on buying furniture, that is, two sofa seats and a table. We also spent KES 10000 on paying school fees for our children and another KES 6600 on buying two bags of maize. Other than that, we also bought a mattress at KES 3000 and a bed at KES 2800 for our children to sleep on. With the remaining amount of money, we used part of it on buying a solar panel, the battery, solar radio, and solar lamps. For the rest of it, I invested it in my grocery business. Buying furniture, paying school fees, and buying the maize were our topmost priorities. We had built a house but it had no furniture in it. We also still had some balances to clear in school and we didn't have the money to do so. Our children were hence about to be sent home due to the arrears. We also wanted maize that could sustain us for a while and hence avoid the cost of purchasing it every day. We are hence grateful to GiveDirectly because all these became possible due to their help. Life has hence changed for the better. With the solar lamps that we bought, our children are now studying well, they are also sleeping well with the beddings that we bought them. We were able to buy the furniture that we didn't have and we have enough food for our consumption.

I was at home with my children relaxing when at around 9 am, I heard a beep on my phone. I checked it and saw the Mpesa message indicating that I had received the transfer from GiveDirectly. I became extremely happy and excited as it was my first time to ever own such an amount of money and it also made me know that GiveDirectly is indeed a genuine organization.

I was able to purchase a piece of land using part of my transfer and though it is small, I am glad that I finally have an asset to call my own. This would not have been possible had it not have been for GiveDirectly and I am happy that very soon, I will be living in my land where I will be able to plant some vegetables for consumption. Having been able to fulfill this has made me a different person and my energy to work harder has been renewed as I now know that I can do some major developments with the increased income from my grocery business.

I am a single parent and still live in my father's homestead. He has two wifes, many children, and owns two acres of land which when subdivided, each of my brothers would get a small portion of land. It is very rare in our community for a lady to inherit a piece of land from her parents and when I received my transfer, I decided to spend KES 35000 to buy a portion of land that was being sold so that I can relocate earlier before being evicted by my brothers. I am glad that I have been able to achieve this with the support from GiveDirectly and I am planning to start building a house using the next transfer. Also, I spent KES 4000 to expand my vegetable vending business into a grocery so that I can have more sales in a day and spent KES 5000 on clothes for my children. Using the remaining amount, I bought two sets of seats at KES 6600 and KES 4000 on one sack of maize and other foodstuffs to last us for some time.