My goal is to complete the plastering and the painting of my farmhouse, which will allow my wife to move back and allow me to work on renovating the other houses and rent them out. Renting those houses will provide monthly income that will support my wife and me in our old age.

GiveDirectly has done well in enrolling our village, which has enabled the whole village to have developed infrastructure. For instance, my village has so many people transforming their homes from traditional huts to modern wooden houses or stone houses. The funds have enabled most of us to achieve goals and meet financial objectives that would have taken longer to be done. I am grateful that the organization has extended its generosity to so many poor families in a short time.

I am an old man and all my children are grown and independent. At my age, I cannot be employed and most of the time, we depend on our children for financial support. When I got enrolled in GiveDirectly, my wife moved to Kilifi town, where I bought a piece of land and built three thatched houses. I remained at our farmhouse in Ganze as it was easier for my children to have ease in doing business and looking for jobs while they have a place to live in. When I got my transfer, I split the money into two and my wife used her share for food and to pay for my last-born daughter who is a beauty training college. I used my share to renovate and transform our home from a thatched house to a three-roomed stone house with a verandah. I split my second transfer in half and I could complete the structure but unfortunately not able to complete the ceiling and the floor. My wife took her share as well and started renovating one of our houses in town. I am grateful because at my age, never did I know how to completely renovate our home.

I was at home relaxing while reading the bible, a habit that I adopted after retirement 20 years ago. Currently, I am doing small-scale farming growing maize and rearing 2 cows to sustain the needs of my family of 2 members. It was around 2 pm when I received the message notifications on my phone. After checking, it indicated that I had received the transfer from GiveDirectly. I felt extremely happy about receiving the transfer. I shared the good news with my spouse and we thanked God for the opportunity and prayed for the organization for the assistance.

The biggest difference in my daily life is that I am currently living a happy life after fencing my house. I am no longer living in fear after installing a permanent door to my house that ensures enough safety. Previously, at midnight strangers would pass by our house something that made me feel insecure since our livestock spends nights outside and had a broken door.

I spent KES 25,000 of my recent transfer to complete the payment of a plot of land. I had bought it more than 2 years ago in Kilifi town but was yet to complete the payment. This is because I lacked the financial capacity since the income from farming was unsustainable. In addition, I spent KES 20,000 to purchase fencing materials like poles and barbed wire, this was for fencing my home which was constantly invaded by strangers that could steal our property at midnight. Similarly, I bought a permanent door for KES 10,500. The one I had earlier was broken and living in fear that thugs could break into my house anytime. At the moment, I am living happily and feel secure unlike before.