My house is currently in a very poor condition. Without realizing it at the time, I built the house on a pathway where water flows. When the rains came earlier this year, the house started sinking into the ground, and now it is on the verge of collapsing. To make matters worse, the roof is leaking, making the house uninhabitable whenever it rains. My goal is to construct a new house on raised land, away from the water flow. To achieve this, I plan to start by purchasing one piece of iron sheet at a time over the coming months. Once I have collected the necessary number of iron sheets, my next focus will be on acquiring other building materials, like building poles. After gathering all the required materials, I will begin the construction of a new and safer house for my family. I am deeply grateful for the financial support that is helping me care for my family during these challenging financial times. The assistance is not only providing for our current needs but also enabling me to work towards building a safer, more secure home for the future.

As the sole breadwinner of my family of seven, I work as a mason, constructing houses in the village. However, the nature of my job is unpredictable. There are times when I have many job offers, but other times, I can go for months without work. This inconsistency makes it difficult to provide for my family's needs. The cash transfers from Give Directly have provided much-needed relief, allowing me to support my family even during the times when work is scarce. Recently, I spent $68 from my transfers to buy food for my family, ensuring that we had enough to eat. In the past, I had to purchase food on credit just to avoid my family going hungry. With this financial support, we no longer have to worry about having food on the table. Additionally, I spent $47 on a new mattress, which I topped up with my savings. Before this, I used to sleep on sacks, which were very uncomfortable. Now, I sleep peacefully and comfortably on the new mattress. I am incredibly grateful for the financial support, which has helped me provide for my family and eased the burden of struggling to find consistent work. This assistance has made a huge difference in our lives, and I feel more secure in taking care of my family's basic needs.

My objective towards the end of this year is to build a new house because the one I am sheltering in nearly collapsed during the recent rains. It is weak and in bad shape, and I am worried that if it rains again, it may cause damage and harm my family members. Therefore, with the monthly transfers I receive and the little profits I earn from my casual jobs, I will work hard to achieve this project. Once I accomplish it, I will no longer have to worry about the rain and all that sort of danger. Ensuring a safe and sturdy home for my family is my top priority, and I am determined to make it happen.

Food security has been a major challenge in my household for years, mainly because of the prolonged drought that has plagued our region. When I received the unconditional cash transfer, I felt a sense of relief and hope. I used around $68 to buy enough food to last for months, ensuring my family wouldn’t have to worry about where their next meal would come from. For the first time in a long while, my spouse and our four children can take at least two meals a day. The sight of my children eating without worry is a joy I haven't experienced in a long time. Despite the ongoing drought and the uncertainty it brings to our farm, we can now face the future with a bit more confidence. In addition to securing food, I also spent $34 on a mattress. For years, I had been sleeping on a worn-out piece of foam that did little to ease my aches and pains. Every morning, I woke up feeling more exhausted than when I went to bed. But now, thanks to the cash transfer, I sleep comfortably and wake up feeling rested and pain-free. It feels like a dream to lie down on a proper mattress each night. I am incredibly grateful to GiveDirectly for this change. Without their assistance, it would have taken me years of hard work in my casual labor job to save up enough money for such essential items.

I want to share my gratitude for the transfer that I received. It has been instrumental in ensuring that my children's education continues without interruptions due to the lack of fees. Whenever I receive a transfer, my priority is to clear the fee arrears for my four children. Since I rely on casual construction jobs that are not reliable and hard to come by, the assurance that I will receive my monthly transfers gives me peace of mind. Thus, I plan to ensure that my children achieve their educational aspirations as I continue to benefit from the programme. Additionally, I am also planning to renovate my house, which nearly collapsed during the recent rains. It is weak and in bad shape, and I am worried that if it rains again, it may cause damage. Therefore, besides paying fees for my children, I want to start saving a portion every month to buy building materials such as iron sheets and building poles in bits

I am grateful for the support that has always ensured my children's education is uninterrupted due to the lack of fees. Recently, my daughter joined school and the transfers helped to cover her admission fees. I currently have four children enrolled in school, and if I were to solely depend on my means, they would constantly face interruptions. My source of income is usually some menial construction jobs; however, these are currently hard to come by. Sometimes, it can take me weeks to secure a job. Hence, providing for other needs, in addition to the fees, becomes a challenge. Despite all these financial hurdles, I am always at peace because the transfers always come on time. I spent over $80 on all my children's educational expenses through the recent transfers, which has given me peace of mind. Even if I fail to secure a job, I know the fees have been catered for by the transfers. I am committed to ensuring my children excel in their education and achieve their educational aspirations. I spent the remaining amount on fulfilling other basic needs, such as clothing and food. I did enough shopping for foodstuffs to ensure my household did not lack and that we could comfortably take three meals a day without much struggle. My children are also at peace with having enough clothes to wear, including new, clean school uniforms.

My main goals revolve around supporting my children's education to ensure they never miss tuition due to a lack of fees. Additionally, I aim to initiate the construction of a more stable house in the coming year. The structure I currently reside in has faced continuous deterioration as it is made of tree poles and mud, which can barely withstand strong winds. However, with the high cost of living and recurring droughts affecting farming, it has been hard for me to afford a brick-walled house as all the money I earned from my house construction job went towards basic needs like food and school fees. Am happy that food is not a concern now that the recent planting season was a success. Having the necessary masonry skills, I am happy that I will not have to hire labor to help with the construction. Instead, all I need are building materials, including bricks and iron sheets, whose cost I estimate to be around $1000. I plan to accumulate these funds through the incoming cash transfers and the income I earn as a house construction worker.

I am truly grateful for the cash transfers as they have made a significant positive impact on my family's life. When I received the recent three transfers, my priority was to ensure that my children's education remained uninterrupted by settling the tuition debts that were pending. School expenses seem to accumulate quickly, and the education system has become more expensive over time. So, I used $34 to settle the school fees of my children, ensuring that they did not miss any classes. The cash aid has been instrumental in ensuring that our children's education is not disrupted, and for that, I'm thankful. I also allocated $38 to cover food expenses, which included settling debts from obtaining food on credit at the shop. It's been challenging to make ends meet due to the rising cost of living, which prompted me to accumulate debts at the shop. Am happy that the cash aid helped to clear them. However, with the recent successful planting season providing enough food for the coming months, I believe I have the opportunity to address other needs that I had foregone before, like owning livestock. I also used $30 to purchase a goat, marking the beginning of my goat-rearing venture. Owning a goat has been a long-standing aspiration, and I am pleased that am finally able to afford one This has filled me with optimism about the future.

Due to the dilapidated condition of my house, I am concerned about the safety of my family. The walls are constructed of mud and the polls have weakened over time, causing the house to lean to one side. Unfortunately, I am unable to construct a new house due to my financial state. Instead, I want to focus on farming to provide food for my family. If I am able to harvest enough, I hope to allocate funds towards building a new, sturdy house to accommodate all of my family members. However, my current financial situation only allows for basic daily needs, leaving no room for home repairs or construction.

As a casual laborer, I earn a meager income from house construction. The hardest part of my job is securing work. On average, I work for only one to one and a half weeks each month, leaving me unable to secure any other job. Despite my efforts, I earn a mere $8 per day, which is barely enough to cover my family's needs. These include school fees for my children, food, clothing, and medication. My wife and I also sell charcoal for $3 per sack, but demand for this product has declined. As the sole breadwinner, it is difficult to take care of my family's needs. However, I am thankful for the monthly stipends I receive from Give Directly. The April transfer helped me buy 12 packets of 2 kg of maize flour, 1 kg of rice, 1 kg of beans, 1 kg of sugar, and 500 grams of tea leaves. Buying in bulk gave me peace of mind, knowing my family would not sleep on empty stomachs. I appreciate the organization's efforts in providing monthly stipends to help us avert a crisis of hunger due to harsh climate and financial constraints.

My current residence has mud walls and is already slanted on the sides and on the verge of collapsing. My objective for this year is to buy the necessary building materials so that I can renovate my house as I cannot currently afford to build a new one. To do this, I will facilitate the renovation costs by using a portion of the monthly remittances. After that, after a year, I will work to build a brick house that is more durable and stable.

Aside from the fact that there are now no economic activity taking place in our region, there is a severe food shortage that is resulting in high costs. I have had difficulties in my work of building houses because there are not many of them. For instance, it has been more than a month since I last found employment. Consequently, it is difficult for my family of seven, which consists of my wife, my five children, and myself to purchase food. Because they saved me when I most needed it, I view the monthly disbursement as a miracle. As a result, $97 of the transfers from the previous three months were utilized to pay for my family's food bills, while $5 was spent on my three children's recent return to school for the new academic year.

GiveDirectly gives transfer that is unconditional and is not refundable. This helps us cover our daily needs and helps us be accountable for what we do. GiveDirectly's call agent are people who actually care about our well being. They are so professional with their work and are so kind to us. The other thing that GiveDirectly is doing well is that they keep their promises and send the transfers on the exact day and time they say. Thank you so much GiveDirectly.

Life is becoming so difficult day by day because of the prolonged drought. The water that we used to fetch for free before, you really have to buy it at 25 Kenya shillings for a litre and If you have no plans of buying it, you have to walk for kilometers to get it because the source that we used to get water from is now dry. The money I got from GiveDirectly I was able to use all of it to purchase food and water. I bought food at 2000 Kenya Shillings and water at 1000 Kenya Shillings. The time I received my transfer I was in a bad state and the day before I received my transfers, we actually had to sleep hungry because we had no money to purchase any food. The moment I received my transfer I couldn't wait any longer rather than go buy food and water for my kids and put that beautiful smile back on their faces. I had cleared their school fees so I had nothing to worry about other than what they would have to eat. The prolonged drought is really bringing harm and life is becoming so unbearable.

I was relaxing at home at around 4.03 p.m. when I received a message on my phone confirming the receipt of my first transfer from Give Directly. Immediately I called my wife, also a recipient, who was at the trade center to deliver the wonderful news. It was all happiness and laughter when she confirmed to have received her transfer as well. I breathed a sigh of relief for the money would help put my two children back to school.

It had been a long since I held such a sum of money before, given the inconsistent nature of my masonry job. The greatest difference that the cash transfer brought to my life is allowing my two children to resume classes after two days of missing out. Paying their school fees was a great relief from the stress I was undergoing. I will always be grateful to Give Directly for that.

Working as a mason during this drought period has been challenging for me because of the scarcity of house construction jobs. The water shortages in these times discourage most people from building houses because of the high cost of sourcing water from the pans, which are miles away. So, in a month, I can only work for seven days where am compensated KES 800 per day. With the overwhelming burden of responsibilities on my shoulders and rising commodity prices, this income barely fulfills all household needs like food and school fees throughout the month. In fact, by the time I received transfers, my two primary school children had missed classes for two days due to overdue tuition fees. I used KES 700 from the transfer to cover the balances and they happily resumed classes. I also used KES 200 to buy tree poles to repair a hole on one wall of my house that had been created by heavy rains. Since hunger is a major concern in the household, I handed the remaining amount to my wife to budget for food.