Months ago, I was living in a tiny grass-thatched house that leaked and made our lives very uncomfortable. I was, however, unable to construct a new one because I had to first fulfil the traditional right of paying my wife's bride price before moving into a new house. Within the first four months of this year, I was able to pay the bride price and finally got to construct a new house. This has brought a very huge difference in my life because we are now living in a better environment.

I have been working hard on different projects trying to ensure that my family is well taken care of and lately, my biggest project was on brick-making. I got quite a good result from the last one I did and I would wish to invest more of my transfers on it because I know the returns will be worth it.

Since I got married to my wife, there had been a lot of pressure from her parents for me to pay her dowry. This put a lot of pressure on me as I needed to raise enough money fast and pay the bride price so that we could also be free to build a new house as is also the tradition in our culture. After managing to save enough money and paid the dowry, life has been better as we also managed to construct a new house right after that. The difference is that we now live in a decent house and have pressures coming from all corners hence no stress.

Currently, my has no source of income because she is still nursing our little child and cannot engage in any activities that may require her to stay away from home. This has left me with all the responsibilities of providing for my family,(not that I am complaining) but it would be nice getting help. When the child is old enough, I will finance my wife through the profits I will receive from the bricks that I plan to invest on so that she can start a small business for her to be financially independent and be able to support me as well.

My life is currently different from how it was before I started receiving transfers from Give Directly in that, I can now easily boost my business which normally generates a lot of profit. The money that I get from my business has helped me do things that I could not do some years back before I started this business, for instance, I have managed to fully furnish my house which I had built using the transfer. I feel that I am able to reach most of my goals. I always feel if the business could build and furnish the house then there is nothing I cannot achieve. The fact that my business is still up and running makes me happy.

My new goal is to establish my home. I normally use my monthly transfers to boost my business which is doing very well. I want to continue saving the profits generated from this business for some time then start pursuing my goal of building my home. Since I also make bricks the cost price of buying the building materials will be subsidized. I am eager to see the permanent house complete. I can't wait to stay in a long-lasting decent house.

The biggest difference in my daily life in the last four months is that I have managed to build a decent and spacious house. The previous one was a grass thatched house which was small and the roof could leak during the rainy seasons. Most of the time I could be forced to take my visitors at my father's house to avoid any inconvenience just in case it rained. My house was also small and could be very messy in case it got crowded even for a second. I am glad that I will no longer bother my father again because I now have a big house that can accommodate my visitors.

I expect my life to change in the next six months in that, I will have established my home and when this happens, I will be enjoying freedom in my own place because currently, I stay in my father's compound. I always feel restricted from doing so many things even if no one has ever denied me the opportunity of doing anything. The sense of being free and flexible is not guaranteed in such an environment that is why I am eager to own my own home.

Apart from building a new house, I have been able to pay the dowry for my wife. I got married and I did not want to take long before paying dowry. I did not have a stable source of income which was a hindrance for my plan to pay dowry in time. I was so worried about how I will be able to get money to pay dowry because my income was not even enough to help me build a comfortable house. My mother used to encourage me to start savings account I did not want to pay bit by bit. When I started receiving these transfers, I started saving after building a new house for paying dowry. I am very glad I have sorted this out which has given me a lot of respect with my in-laws.

My new goal in the next four is to buy building materials which I want to use in building a new house in my own home. I have become of age and I need to have my own home by now. I want to also create building space for my younger brothers since we do not have enough land in the house.

The biggest difference in my life since I started receiving these transfers is that I have an iron-roofed house. I used to live in a grass thatched house which was too small and the roof was leaking. I could not buy new household items because I feared they would be destroyed by the leaking roof especially during the rainy season. I used to leave in a house whose condition was very bad and that is why I chose to do brick-making business to help me raise money to buy building materials. The roof was leaking and the grass of the roof was falling down due to the strong winds in my area. With these transfers, I was able buy building materials which I have used to build a new, bigger and iron-roofed house.

In the next six months, I plan to lease in a piece of land for farming. In my family, we do not have enough farming land hence I have not been productive in terms of farming which is the main source of income in our village. I would want to have enough farming land and use the produce to raise money to start paying for a piece of land of my own.

The biggest difference is that I am now independent, I have my own source of income thanks to GD.

In the next six months, I will build a house and I will be married.

Initially, I could go a day without food which is not the case currently. I can eat the food of my choice with ease.

I am planning to get married and build a house.