As a mother of six children, I am currently undertaking a construction project to improve our living conditions. Our current home is too small for my husband, six children, and me, which often leaves two of my children seeking shelter elsewhere. Determined to change this, I have diligently saved to purchase two metal sheets every month. Thanks to the support from GiveDirectly, I have now accumulated twenty-five metal sheets. Next, I plan to purchase building sticks, nails, and all necessary materials to construct our comfortable two-room house. This new home will finally allow all my children to live together under one roof, bringing immense joy and relief to our family. No longer will my children need to seek shelter elsewhere each night. We are grateful for the opportunity to improve our living situation and create a better environment for our family's future.

I am currently focused on constructing a new home to improve our living conditions for my husband, six children, and me. The current situation has forced two of my children seek shelter elsewhere each night. To address this, I decided to allocate part of our transfers towards purchasing two metal sheets every month, totaling $72 so far. This has allowed us to accumulate about twenty-five metal sheets, which will be used to build two spacious rooms for my family. Additionally, with the remaining transfers, I allocated $30 to clear the school fees for my three school-going children. This ensured their education continues uninterrupted, preventing any potential disruptions due to unpaid fees. I am grateful for the support from GiveDirectly, which has enabled me to make significant progress in securing better housing and ensuring my children can pursue their education without obstacles.

Living in a cramped one-room house with five children has been quite challenging, prompting me to take action to improve our living conditions. My immediate goal is to construct a two-roomed house, with plans to expand it further in the future. With the necessary iron sheets already obtained, my focus now shifts to acquiring additional materials like building poles, timber, nails, ropes, and other essentials for construction. Once I have everything I need, I'll be ready to start building our new home, which will provide much-needed space and comfort for my family. The prospect of having a new house brings me immense relief, especially after enduring cramped living conditions for over a decade. I'm proud of the progress I've made so far, utilizing the monthly stipends from Give Directly to invest in improving our quality of life. This endeavor signifies a significant step towards a better future for my family, and I'm grateful for the support that has enabled me to embark on this journey towards better living conditions.

Living in a tiny one-room house with my five children has become increasingly challenging, especially as they approach adulthood and require more privacy. Recognizing this urgent need, I've prioritized using my transfers to purchase building materials. In recent months, I have allocated $48 from each transfer towards buying iron sheets, which are essential for constructing a more spacious home for us. Aside from investing in our future home, I also have to address the immediate needs of my family. I spent $18 on food to ensure we have enough to eat, and I've allocated $36 to pay school fees for my children.

In the next one year, as I continue to receive my transfers, my primary focus is directed towards realizing my dream of constructing a new and improved house. The significance of a comfortable house for a family has been my longstanding prayer, having experienced years of homelessness. I used to seek refuge in the neighborhood until my husband initiated the construction of a new structure with the assistance of the first transfers when we were enrolled in the program. This has instilled hope within me, believing that one day, I will have a house, to overcome challenges associated with exposure to colds during rainy seasons.

With four school-going children, monthly transfers have proven helpful for covering their school fees, ensuring uninterrupted education. This consistent financial support allows them ample time to focus on their studies, reflecting in improved academic performance. Additionally, a portion of the transfers, $8 every month has been helping me to buy an iron sheet. At the moment, I have accumulated 20 iron sheets. This will help me to construct a new house for my family of eight members. I am grateful to GiveDirectly for the unwavering support. This not only enabled my children to continue with their education, but also contributing to the realization of our dream house.

Now that I have obtained the necessary iron sheets for constructing my house, my focus has shifted towards purchasing additional materials such as building poles, timber, nails, ropes, and other essential building supplies. Once I have acquired all these materials, I will have everything I need to begin building the house. The prospect of having a new house brings me great relief after enduring challenges for the past decade. I am extremely pleased with the progress I have made thus far, utilizing the monthly stipends to improve the quality of my life.

I have been living in a makeshift structure for over ten years, seeking shelter from extreme weather conditions such as heavy rain and intense sunlight. The poverty that my family faces has been a barrier to building a proper house. However, with the generous financial assistance from Give Directly, I have been able to allocate $16 of my monthly transfers towards purchasing iron sheets. I now have a total of 23 pieces, which is sufficient to construct a two-room house. In addition, I used $10 to obtain a birth certificate for my son, who will be taking his final primary education exams later this year. The birth certificate is a mandatory requirement for him to sit for the exams. I am delighted that he will finally have the necessary document and be able to sit for his examinations. The remaining $8 was spent on buying food to ensure that my family does not go to bed on an empty stomach. Both my husband and I work in casual jobs, making and selling charcoal, which brings in very little income, barely enough to cover all our family expenses. I am incredibly grateful for the financial support we are receiving from Give Directly, as it has made a significant difference in our lives.

For as long as I can remember, my ultimate goal has been to fix my house. The rain leaks have been a never-ending nightmare, causing damage to my household and everything in it. But now, I can finally say that I've achieved my dream, thanks to the generosity of GiveDirectly. With their financial support, I was able to purchase the necessary materials to fix the leaks, and I now live in a safe and secure hause. I am deeply grateful to GiveDirectly for making my dream a reality.

I am a hardworking mother with four school-going children. To make ends meet, I usually cut trees and burn charcoal for income, while my husband does casual jobs that are not always reliable. However, we recently received financial assistance from GiveDirectly, and I used some of the money to address a critical need by purchasing iron sheets to fix our leaking roof. I spent $12 on this, and the rest of the money was used for food. I am grateful for the support, which has helped us to improve our living conditions and meet our basic needs.

Last year, as the year was drawing to an end, I made the decision to gradually start purchasing iron sheets so that I could ultimately construct a larger and nicer house. Since I now lack the necessary quantity to start the project, I intend to use the donations received this year to keep purchasing additional iron sheets until I do. The house we currently live in is quite small, and even though I share it with my husband, my three children, and my two grandchildren—who are also growing up and will soon need their own privacy—I. For these reasons, I want to build another house. I also intend to use the funds  on nourishment due to all we are facing caused by persistent drought.

After I got enrolled into the program I decided to gradually start buying iron sheets so that I could finally renovate my house. This is because the house I am living in at the moment is quite old and apart from that, most of the iron sheets are old, worn out and always leaking during the rainy season. This time around I proceeded to buy another pair of iron sheets which cost me KES 600 which leads me to so far having acquired fourteen. I then proceeded to spend the remaining balance on nutrition especially since it was the festive season. Therefore I bought five packets of maize flour, two packets of maize flour, two kilograms of rice, a litre of cooking oil and spices.

I saved KES 2,000 from the transfer through a self-help group. The plan is to withdraw KES 10,000 next month in order to construct a new one-room house for my husband and me. We reside in a shoddy shed that was formerly used as a kiosk structure, and it could collapse at any time due to strong winds. Furthermore, it is too small for our family of eight. As a result, my children have had to seek shelter from relatives and neighbors at night. The new house would at least fit the three youngest children. In addition, I paid KES 500 in school fees for my three primary school children, who were sent home every day to collect the money. Also, we had ran out of food for the previous two weeks and had to rely on neighbors for assistance. I would occasionally persuade the shopkeeper to give us food on credit, but it was always in vain. In fact, we had been surviving solely on water for three days prior to the transfer. As a result, I had to spend the remaining funds on maize flour.

GiveDirectly has always given a hand in helping the needy by issuing monthly support through the unconditional transfers. Poverty levels have greatly reduced and lives have been bettered.

Having no sustainable income other than what is received from casual jobs, has led to a challenging lifestyle. I am married to one husband who also does casual jobs to keep him going. Together we have been blessed with six children and we all live together in a not so well conditioned house. The KES 3000 received have really helped in a big way as I have been able to save up KES 1500 to construct a good house in the near future. I was also able to clear school fees arrears for my four children at KES 1000 and now they can be able to attend school without missing any lessons. Since food at home was already finished, I bought more at KES 500 to atleast last us for one whole week.

It was on Friday morning at around 11am when my daughter who is a beneficiary on this same program came to me with enthusiasm claiming to have received her cash ,I had no idea that had also received and as soon as she checked my phone and broke the news we were all excited .I could hear sounds of joy in my compound.It is at that point we cooked tea and prepared some pouch like bread(mandazi) as neighbours to celebrate that moment.

The biggest difference in my daily life is owning a new home.My house is covered with papers and I live with my four children.I am worried that when the rains are here with us we may be forced to seek for an alternative or be homeless.My plan is to complete the roofing of the new house in the next few months .I am glad that finally I will have a two roomed house with a verandah which will give me my privacy and my children will be able to have their own room as well.

My main goal has been to complete construction of my house through my savings from working as a charcoal burner have already started the project and its a work in progress. When I received my transfer I used KES 600 paid the construction contractor who has been working on the project and used KES 570 to buy food which would last one week for my family of six members.It has been a struggle to make ends meet with my business.I usually take upto two weeks before having one sack of charcoal that sells for a minimum of KES 500 which hardly enough to cover all our needs as a family