Apart from living in a poorly conditioned house, I feel that I do not have any other source of income. Therefore, when the year began, I developed a goal of venturing into livestock keeping. Once I accomplish the goal of building a better house, my second focus will be buying and raising domestic fowl and goats. They are very profitable and can help me with some money when I am financially down. Currently, I have three goats, but I want to raise more. The rest of the transfer will help to acquire food for my household since I am the sole breadwinner.

I have been living in a house that is not in good condition ever since my husband passed away a couple of years ago. Because the roof leaks anytime it rains, its walls are weakened. I had longed to construct a new one, but I could not due to a lack of funds. I have been saving money in the merry-go-round since I started getting transfers to amass enough cash to build a new house. I took all my most recent transfers into a merry-go-round to increase my funds. I hope to take my savings, and use them to build a new and spacious house that can accommodate my three school-going children and me.

I was extremely elated upon realizing the arrival of the transfers because this meant that I could continue to save up my money so that I could finally continue with the project of restoring my house. This was due to the fact that it was quite old and the iron sheets were worn out. Therefore I was looking forward to finally have the funds that would bring me more closer to having a comfortable home. That is why after withdrawing the transfers I ended up saving KES 2000 and proceeded to use the balance which was KES 1,000 to settle a debt that I had prior when I purchased a goat.

With the past last two transfers, I have intentionally gone ahead to purchase farm animals namely goats. This is because I plan to rear and breed them so that they could eventually be a hard and I could always sell them afterwards for financial benefit and even perhaps eventually buy a cow that will beneficial for milk and helping me plough my land since I am old. Similarly, with the recent donation received I went ahead to purchase another goat for KES 3,000 which totaled them to three so far which has all been possible through the cash transfers from GiveDirectly

I am so grateful to GiveDirectly because through the funds I receive I have managed to sustain myself since I am quite old and a widow to add on that. The financial hardship weighed on me tremendously before stumbling upon GiveDirectly but now I am way better off compared to before and I have zero complains.

I am yet to use the transfers I received from GiveDirectly because I am still trying to figure out how I will use the money effectively. But my intentions weigh more on buying livestock especially a goat for starters but I ma still trying to find one that I can afford because different sellers sell them differently. The reason for buying the goat is mainly for economical benefits. I would love to breed the goat so that I would have a couple and maybe sell when times became to tough as they normally get from time to time. Apart from buying a goat I would like to take care of nourishment by probably buying maize flour and maybe lastly if I still remain with some money I would like to leave some portion of it in my savings account.

My daughter had actually heard around the village that the transfers were already out and asked whether she could check my phone to find out whether it was true or not since I was very tech conscious and not knowledgeable when it came to such matters especially with phones. To my utter surprise the money was actually there and I was filled with euphoria because that day I was completely broke and the pantry was empty as well so I had feared we would have to go to bed hungry but the funds from GiveDirectly were my saving grace.

Through this funds I managed to begin on a project that I have always had my eyes on but no means to do so which is poultry farming. I know I started small with only two hens but I am determined to make this work both for me and my family because we need financial sustainability and for that we will have to put effort and invest in ourselves.

I have always had the intention to start poultry farming but considering the financial situation and all the bills have to cater for, I have always had to postpone my plans because other priorities trump starting poultry farming. Then after getting enrolled in this program I took this as a sign that it would either be now or never. After I received the funds I went ahead and bought two hens where one KES 350 each so I spent a total of KES 700 on them and guess what? As of now I will be expecting chicks since one of them already lay eggs. I plan on benefitting on this both domestically and economically but mostly I will lean on the financial benefit because overtime it will help me earn more money which I can use for the day to day needs of the family. I then took the remaining bit of the funds I had received which was KES 450 and bought maize flour since they was no food left in the house and laundry detergent.