After I fourth transfer I decided to buy a motorcycle that I planned to use mostly for domestic purposes. Since I do not have all the money required to pay for the ride at once, the owner and I came to an agreement that I would have to pay for it bit by bit. Therefore I used KES 2,000 to pay for a part of the debt to the owner. Then took the remaining KES 1,000 and bought drinking water since it was quite scarce back here, also bought petrol for the motorcycle and used the KES 300 that remained after this to buy three packets of maize flour since food was also another problem for us.

Providing for my 6children is my main concern. My current job as a motorcyclist has not been bringing in much making it hard to fulfill this. It has gotten worse ever since I bought the bike on credit from my former employer at ksh30000. I am needed to make partial payments whenever I get to earn something. From my last transfer, I managed to reduce the debt by ksh1500 and now it stands at ksh16000. The remaining ksh1500 I used to renovate the old kiosk that I had shut down due to the losses I incurred. My first transfer helped me a lot with food purchases while in my second transfer, I spent ksh2000 on school fees and ksh1000 on food.

In my opinion, GiveDirectly does well in terms of giving us unconditional cash. This has helped us a lot. We can plan accordingly and attend to our most pressing needs. It has also in a way helped us to be able to plan for our future by investing in a useful project so that we can come out of poverty and live a good life.

I lost my job at the beginning of this year. I then decide to venture into the motorcycle business. So I bought a second-hand motorcycle on hire purchase. I am still paying for the motorcycle and this requires me to pay a certain amount at the end of the month. When I received the transfer I used KSH 1800 together with my other savings and paid the installment that was owed the previous month. The motorcycle has helped me in terms of helping out in fetching water for my family. Due to the drought, water is hard to get and one has to walk for several kilometers to get it. Now that I have the motorcycle I help out in fetching for my family, other family members, and other people who pay me for the service. The remaining amount of KSH 1200 I spent buying food for my family.

I did wake up early because I was hungry since I had not eaten the previous day. While seated outside thinking of where I was going to borrow money or buy food on credit, it is when I received the message confirming that I had received the money. I cannot even express how happy I was at that moment. I just knelt down and thanked God for the miracle. I immediately went to the shop and bought food for my family.

The biggest difference is that, with the cash my family is able to get food without any hitches for the next couple of weeks. To be honest I have been struggling a lot and I can feel like a big load has been lifted off from my shoulders. I am grateful that I am now at peace and can seat down and plan what next for my family in terms of feeding them and their other needs

I am the bread winner in my family. I do not have a stable job I am just a casual laborer. Since the outbreak of the Corona pandemic finding jobs has become very hard for me and just to say the least my family and I have been struggling of late. The previous day before receiving the money from Give Directly I did receive a call from school where my children go to school and informed that my children will be sent home if I did not pay their school fees. Luckily I had some amount and I paid the little I had as school fees. That evening we did sleep hungry since I did not have any amount of money left. On the following morning it’s when I received the money and without wasting any time I decided to go spend the whole amount on food for my family.