My lifelong dream is to one day open a mini-mart and sell dry foods to the community. I'm excited at the thought of one day being able to support my family from the sales of soap, tissues, and flour, amongst other things, that I will be selling. My future goal is to eventually just give my kids a better life than my husband and I have had.

GiveDirectly has completely transformed Kimbule Town for the better. Recipients have been able to take their kids to school, buy property, and build houses, thanks to GiveDirectly helping us all. I have nothing else to add other than my prayer that GiveDirectly continues helping many other, similarly needy people.

The transfers from GiveDirectly gave me a chance to finally build a 2 bedroom house for myself. I put a roof on it as well, which is a true luxury in these parts. Prior to that, I had been living in a mud walled ,1 bedroom with my wife, while the kids live with their big brother in another mud walled 2 bedroom house . I have 9 kids, 2 girls and 7 boys. The girls are both married and living with their husbands, while of the boys, one finished form 4, two of them are going to form 4 and 2 respectively, while the rest are trying to find jobs in Mombasa and Malindi . As a 68 year old masonry retiree, it has been 10 years since I was working and my 48 year old wife and I mainly provide for ourselves by tilling our 10 acre farm on which we grow maize, beans and greens for our consumption Hence GiveDirectly sending us the funds was the only way I could pay for the $170 and $452.25 in tuition fees at both Msengo and Godoma Schools, for my kids. These funds were truly a blessing to me and my household.

I was at home busy repairing my house which required renovation since it was collapsing. I heard a message alert on my phone, I was interested in knowing what it was all about. This is because it was uncommon to receive a message at such a time. After checking it, I could not imagine what I saw, I realized I had received the transfer that GiveDirectly promised us during the enrollment stages. I was very happy for receiving my transfer since I had a lot of pending school fees that I was required to pay. I had to withdraw it on the same day to sort out the fee issues since my kids were staying at home due to the huge fee balance.

Able to fulfill my inner desire of providing better education for my children is the biggest difference in my daily life. I am currently living a peaceful life without worrying about the education of my children after clearing most of the fee arrears. Furthermore, I was able to boost the goat keeping a future investment for the family.

I spent most of my transfer supporting my children's educational requirements. I had two kids who are in secondary school. I spent KES 25,000 to clear the pending fees for the elder son who completed secondary school 3 years ago but was not able to obtain his result due to huge fee balances. I also paid KES 10,000 for my kid who is currently in form 3. Moreover, I used part of the remaining amount, on purchasing 5 more goats to boost my livestock rearing an activity that I had been depending on for a long. I also saved KES 5,000 which I am planning to enroll my last born who had just completed his primary education to secondary school.