In the next one year, I hope to accomplish a lot in my life. In the priority list is to buy a dairy cow that will make it easier for us to meet the needs of our family I plan to do this by taking a loan and using the money to buy one. Right now, I cannot be able to borrow the loan since we are still struggling with the cost of living. The cost of basic commodities is so high such that it is even difficult to meet the cost of basic household needs. I look forward to the day the cost of living with reduce and I will be able to save from my casual work and use the savings to pay back a loan that I will borrow.

In my opinion GiveDirectly does well by enrolling every household within the village without any form of discrimination whatsoever. It was interesting to see the officers follow the rules to letter and give everyone an opportunity to spend the money in the ways they thought were the best. Some people bought livestock for the first time in their lives, others paid school fees for their children and saved themselves the shame of seeing their children being sent home for school fees while others built new houses using the transfers from GiveDirectly. With all these, everyone was at the end of the day very happy and pleased about GiveDirectly. On the other hand, I did not find anything awful that I thought GiveDirectly can do better.

I had managed to buy a chicken wire when I received the first transfer and even built a poultry house. I was so determined to start a poultry keeping business and when I received the second transfer, I used $50 to buy chicken that I am now keeping in the newly constructed poultry house. I used another $120 to buy flour for the family and another $60 was used to pay school fees for my child who is in grade 2 at a private school. We also received the money at a time that my son had suffered a lot with some strange disease where he complained of regular stomach aches. We had been referred to a better hospital where we were supposed to do a CT scan and when we finally got this money, then we used it to take the baby to hospital. He wass diagnosed with a condition that was later treated and he was discharged. We are so happy as a family that a problem that had persisted for quite a long time is now sorted courtesy of GiveDirectly transfers. The money also brought so much relief to us as a family having received it during tough economic times. My husband had lost his job during the pandemic and since then, we have been relying on odd casual jobs to make ends meet in our family. I am so much grateful and happy for the support. It has brought a smile in my family that had been very rare to see before

I was happy and thankful to receive the first transfer from GiveDirectly at around 6:00 pm. During this time, I needed such support the most, and I could not forget to thank God who answered my prayers in my time of need. I had a little foodstuff left that could not feed my family, and since I could not withdraw the money the same day because of the heavy traffic on all mobile money shops, I just visited a shop that gave me food on creditable showing them the confirmation message from GiveDirectly. I then woke up early the next day and visited the nearby shopping center, where I collected the money and settled all debts I had.

The biggest difference in my daily life is the constant availability of foodstuff in my household since I received the first transfer. My children have never skipped a meal since then, and they had been so happy and appreciated the change brought about by the received support.

After collecting the first transfer on the second day of receiving it, I spent KES 10,000 on foodstuff that we are still using with my family of five. I also paid KES 6000 on school fees and uniforms for one of my three children who are currently in school. At the moment, I am constructing a new house with the remaining amount that has consumed approximately KES 30000 after demolishing an old structure that we had been living in. I spent the remaining amount on buying household goods and also settling a medical bill for my mother, who was in the hospital at that time. I am grateful for the steps I have taken in transforming our living standards and hope I will be able to do a lot after receiving the second transfer.