Before receiving the transfers from GiveDirectly, I had strings of plans that I knew were only dreams since I never even believed that I will ever get such huge support. The receipt of the first and the second transfer became an Eye-opener and brought a lot of aggression in idea generation and investments. I managed to construct a new house, purchased a dairy cow, and am now feeling much at ease that I can look forward to raising my savings towards purchasing a piece of land. Working as a team with my husband has lately been strong in that his savings from the job combined with the little I normally get from the farming make it easy to fund anything coming up on our to-do list.

Our village has changed in many ways that range from the improved living conditions after the construction of new houses, improved subsistence farming activities, and also livestock farming that was not as intense as it is at the moment. All these are because of the great investment of both time and resources by GiveDirectly when they equipped us with valuable information before sending us the transfers. In my opinion, every step was well executed as everyone was impressed and still thankful to date.

The cost of buying milk for y family of seven has been strenuous since I have always had to double up my efforts on the casual labor and also on my farms to ensure that I earn an adequate amount to cover all the household needs and some liters of milk as well. After the first transfer that we spent on what we considered more urgent for the household, we agreed to spend KES 22000 from the second transfer on buying a three months in-calf heifer that we are currently rearing. Even though it might not completely solve the milk shortage challenge in our household, I am hopeful that we will not be spending much in the future. I also spent part of the remaining amount on foodstuff that cost KES 6800, a new piece of furniture for the new house that I had constructed with the first transfer at KES 6000, new pairs of clothes for my five children at KES 5000, Household items at KES 7000, and saved the remaining KES 5000 that has been useful in checking a replenishing any item in the household whenever we run short of. I am happy for all the accomplishments that I have registered for within a short time and am thankful to GiveDirectly for the generous support.

I was with my sister-in-law down at the river that morning when I received a message bearing the good news of my first transfer. I could not hide the excitement the moment I saw it and had to show everyone who was around to try and confirm whether it was really true. My sister-in-law had then received the same information on her phone. We were overjoyed and had to move faster towards home as I also needed my other household members to witness the same excitement. Many people we met on the way spoke the same language and showed the same excitement as they thanked God and GiveDirectly for reviving their hopes of making a better future for their families.

The biggest difference in my daily life after receiving the first transfer is the great work currently ongoing at my doorstep. Seeing a spacious house coming up warms my heart every morning, and I have always been thankful for this great turnaround. I had lost hope in saving towards a better structure, but this difference has been made possible by GiveDrectly.

With a family of seven, it has been so hard for us living in a single house as it was so small to accommodate everyone. On receiving the transfer, I decided to spend a larger portion on obtaining construction materials that I have so far used in putting up a larger structure. I bought 24 iron sheets, building posts, nails and later paid the labor cost. The whole construction work has so far consumed around $400. I also managed to spend $10 on paying tuition fees for my three primary school kids and obtained two bags of maize at $65. I am glad that everything went as planned and soon we will be moving to the new house once its construction is completed.