I have always wanted a much better house for my family. I am a single mother with two grown up children and a grandchild. I wanted to make my family a house that had no leaking roof and was much warmer. I also wanted a house that would allow gather water for using within the home since a thatched can't collect water. I also wanted to get a cow for breeding and milking. I had hoped that I would get a cow who would give birth to young ones which I could sell to meet major needs withing the home as well as get milk that can be used in the home and sold to my neighbours for money. It was almost impossible for me to save the money that I earn in my job as a cook as the needs within the house are so many. I make six thousand shillings which sometimes runs out before I receive my next salary and am forced to take things of debt which I pay using my next salary. This means that my money would not be able to suffice for all the things that I would want to do and still save.

We have been having a very long drought period which means that accessing food is hard and food is very expensive and hard to come by. This money allowed my family deal with the issue of hunger by purchasing food using both transfers. We have as well bought seeds that we will plant and hope to use the produce to feed the family.

I spent my first transfer purchasing a cow for 20,000 shillings. This cow is a dairy cow and is a heifer. I hope that when I get a calf from this cow I will get milk to feed the family and more for sale and also get a calf which adds to their numbers. I also was able to buy 20 tree posts which were used in biulding my house as well as 22 pieces of roofing sheets which cost 900 each as I built a slightly big house. I was able to also put gutters on the new house to help collect water for drinking for my family. I have two adult children and we were all crammed in our small grass thatched house. The roof leaked and this made the house very uncomfortable to live in. I also have a grandchild that was also living with house in this house. I was also able to buy a roll of barbed wire with the second transfer which I will use to fence my compound. I was able to buy food with my transfers to sustain my family. I will also be able to plant this planting season as I was able to use my second transfer to get maize, beans and vegetables seeds. The rains have now begun and I have dug my farm in preparation for the planting season. This will help sustain my families food needs.

I was at school in the kitchen preparing the 10 o'clock tea for the students when I heard my phone ringing in my pocket notifying me of a new message. I decided to pull it out to check it and I could not believe my eyes when I saw that I had received the lump sum transfer that GiveDirectly had promised. I was so happy and I couldn't wait to get out of work in the evening so that I could go inform my children of the good news.

The transfer has brought a very big difference in my life and that of my family. We have been able to purchase the things that we have always wanted but are not in a position to get them due to lack of money. Our lives have thus been uplifted and we no longer suffer a lot.

I spent most of the money that I got from GiveDirectly on buying a young cow. I decided to buy the cow because I wanted to make an investment that will help me in the future. I am going to look after the cow that I bought and when it calves, I will be able to get milk that I can sell and consume with my children. I was not in a position to buy one before because I was busy struggling to get money for paying school fees for my two children, one who is in the university and the other was in secondary school. In order to get money, I decided to take up the job of a chef at the school where my son was studying. The school offered to pay me KES 6000 per month and they used to deduct some of my salary to cover my son's school fees. The remaining amount, I could use it in purchasing food for my family and buying other household items. It has thus been hard to make any other investments.