My immediate goal is getting my youngest into colleague. He would love to be a doctor and I am striving to make his dream come true. While at it, I would love to buy cows for dairy farming and have milk both for sale, and for consumption at home.

With little to no rain this year, I would have been left helpless had it not been for GiveDirectly. They clearly excel at transforming lives positively and I am living proof of the same. I would wish that they continue their good work and keep enriching people's lives.

I'm a widow, who inherited land from my husband, which I haven't been tilling since the drought has been prevailing. I'm a mother of 10 and by God's grace, all 9 apart from my youngest have married and started families. My youngest is looking to start colleague and a bulk of the transfers from GiveDirectly went towards building him his own house within our homestead. The remainder went to food for us, as well as clothes, since we were in dire need of a wardrobe overhaul. I am eternally greatful for GiveDirectly giving me an opportunity to meet and surpass some of my goals.

It was around 11 AM when I was from taking breakfast when my phone started ringing so loudly. I did not bother because I was very hungry and tired. A few moments later, there was another notification popped in. I was curious and asked my son to check for me who it was. Upon reading them, he realized that it was an Mpesa message from GiveDirectly. I had finally received my first cash transfer as promised earlier. I felt so happy and blessed because I knew that I would finally buy livestock.

The biggest difference in my daily life is that I now have livestock ( the three goats). I have been yearning to have them for years but I could not afford them because of the financial hardships that were experiencing, I could not afford them. I however settled for the goats because part of their gestation is short, and the climatic condition in my region is favorable for them. Also since I am a farmer, I believe I will have ample time to take good care of them because I rarely leave my compound in most of the time. Once they reproduce and increase in number, I am planning to sell some of the offerings and start a business which will be my main source of income since for now I only depend on farming activities. As a widow of two children, it is never been easy, therefore I believe that the goats will change my living standards positively.

I spent a fraction of my first transfer on purchasing building materials which comprise, iron sheets and timber, and nails which cost KES 12000. This was for the completion of a house for my son who was in the process of designing his house but he was stuck at some point due to the financial hardships. Initially, he used to sleep at his friend's houses which were quite far from the village we lived in. Also, I bought three goats worthy of KES 13500. It has always been my dream to have them in my compound but I did not afford them because they were quite expensive. I choose to have them because they reproduce very fast as compared to the other domestic animals. In addition to that, I bought decent clothes and shoes which were to replace the old ones that I have been using for years. With the remaining amount of money, I bought foodstuffs for my family.