My daily life has greatly changed within the past few months as we have managed to plaster our house which was previously made of mud. When my husband and I received our share from the merry-go-round, we combined them and bought the necessary materials used to plastered the house. This is so far is the greatest achievement we have accomplished with these transfers and we could not be more proud. I am especially more pleased about the fact that I no longer have to deal with dust around the house or worry about constant renovations through smearing as I did before.

I do not have any source of income at the moment so I have plans of starting up a mall grocery business using the money I will receive from the merry- go- round that we have been saving in within the next two months. Over the past one and a half years, I have become so used to having my own money and being independent that the thought of having no money after the project ends just freaks me out. I would want to keep the money flowing even after the project is over hence the reason to start up the business.

Despite having no source of income and only depending on subsistence farming, receiving transfers has always made it possible for my family to feed well and never go hungry even during the just witnessed drought period. I know life would have been tougher without the transfers because of my family's low income, but we went through that phase with lots of ease as the transfers greatly supplemented our monthly budget enabling us to buy almost all that we needed.

I hope that the business I am planning to start will be in a better place to cater to my financial needs in the next few months so that I will not have to get frustrated when the project comes to an end early next year as I will no longer have transfers from Give Directly to depend on. Having been used to earning a monthly income, I know life will be tough after the project is over, so I will do all that is necessary to ensure that the business picks up well and keeps running.

In the past four months, I have managed to buy bedding for my children and they can now sleep comfortably which makes me happy as a parent because I know they are now kept warm at night, especially during this cold season. I am also glad that now have enough bedding to take care of my visitors and don't have to borrow whenever I have visitors. I also joined one Acre Fund organization because I knew these transfers would help me pay for their services. This season, I am going to get more harvest than I have ever received in my life.

I am a member of the One Acre Fund(A farming organization that supplies us with farm inputs and equipment on credit) and I have a huge loan for the inputs I received this current farming season. My focus right now is to clear the loan so that I will not have to resort into selling my farm produce to raise the money to clear it later. I want to use my harvest to better the life of my family through feeding and selling some to handle family emergencies.

When we started receiving these transfers, we formed a savings group where we usually save part of the monthly transfers. I received my share of the savings two months ago and I was able to buy a few household items such a new mattress and sheets for my children who had worn out bedding and slept on a very thin and old mattress. Buying the new bedding also saved me from having to borrow from my neighbours whenever I had visitors because I did not have decent ones for them to use.

I expect that in the next six months, we will have completed the plastering of our house so that the entire house would look better than it does now with only the outer part plastered. This will help get rid of the dust we currently have to struggle to keep away and improve the general cleanliness of the house. I also expect a bumper harvest that will last my family for several months. Joining Acre Fund enabled me to access quality seeds and fertilizer which should result in good harvests.

I used the money to sort my hospital bills for the period when I was admitted at Sagam hospital for a duration of almost three weeks. By the time GD sent me the money, I had stayed in hospital for almost one week after falling ill and I had very little cash by then and I did not know where I would get the next coin. When I saw the text message that I had received some cash from GD, I was so happy because I knew that finally I had financial boost that would enable me sort out the hospital bills much easier.

I have a plan of cementing the interior parts of the house so that it transforms from a mud-walled house to a semi-permanent house. I have always lived in the mud-walled house which is not a very good thing considering the fact that the walls are prone to dust and they keep on wearing out with time making it easy for the house to crumble at some point. However, when I will have transformed it to a semi-permanent house, I am sure that it will last for more than twenty years to come, which is a nice thing.

The biggest difference for me is the fact that I have been able to buy enough food for my family which was quite a difficult thing for me to achieve in the past. For any human being to live or survive in this world, they need food and if that is not available then it becomes quite a challenge and that is what I have managed to overcome, thanks to the monthly transfers from Give Directly. I have also joined the one acre fund team that normally furnishes farmers with modern seedlings and fertilizers that enables farmers to get bumper harvest at the end of every season, and through that I have been able to harvest so much food that keeps my family going for longer periods.

I know I will have managed to make tremendous transformations on my house and probably think of other developments I can undertake to make my life much better. Apart from that, I want to make sure that I save some little cash every month so that I can be able to pay school fees for my children and let them concentrate on their studies on a full-time basis. Right now I have not been able to make much savings because of the financial commitments that have kept me on toes but I know that going into the future, making the savings would not be so hard.

My children are dressing well unlike before when they used to dress in rags, I have never begged for food like before and my last harvest was the best ever in my life because of the seeds I bought with this transfer.

I would want to buy good utensils so that I stop borrowing from my neighbour whenever I have visistors.

I have always yearned to live in a permanent house but I have not been able to live in one due to my low income. When Give Directly came to my life, I was able to plaster my house though semi-permanent but better than mud-walled house.

I would want buy bedding for my children since they have old ones.

My new goal is to save my transfers together with my husband's so that we can buy materials and complete our house by plastering it. This has now become a priority because the house is very dusty and hot so good for our health.

My life is currently different in that I am now able to do certain things that I could not do earlier,like paying fees for my children. My family is also currently well taken care of in terms of food because we can afford to buy better qualities and quantities.

In the next six months I expect to have bought some household items like hotpots,plates and decent cups.This will assist me whenever I have visitors so that I don't go asking from the neighbors like I am currently doing.I will also have a bumper harvest because I was able to buy and plant hybrid seeds which is an assurance of enough food for my family.

The biggest difference in my daily life is that I now have hope that there is a place I will be getting my own money and I will not entirely depend on my husband for every single item required in the house. I am happy that I can also help in providing for my family. I am able to buy certain items like clothes on my own.