I have two children who are in college first year pursuing education and psychology. In the coming year and beyond, I am hoping to develop a good saving plan to take care of their fees. Once they are done with their education, I will buy a female cow, which if all goes well will produce milk for consumption and sale. In addition, I will start up a small business of selling second hand clothes as this has a high demand in my community. Most of the young people living within my community cannot afford to buy expensive clothes and mostly they prefer second hand clothes, the profits will be taking care of the family basic needs like food and fees for my young girls still in Primary School.

In my opinion, what GiveDirectly does well in this program is that we receive the transfers in lumpsum amounts. This helps in planning as one is in a position to do something huge as compared to when the transfers are given in small instalments. Another thing that GiveDirectly does well is that the unlearned recipients are taught how to use mpesa. This has reduced the number of theft cases in the community as most of us managed to change our pins to a more secure code. What needs to be done differently is enrolling all the individuals in the household to avoid household conflict. During enrollment, those individuals who did not have responsibilities by then were left out of the program yet these are the same people who steal from their old and vulnerable parents. Another thing that needs to be done differently is enrolling all the communities in a specific village for uniformity purposes and this will prevent too many complaints coming from the communities that are left out during the registration to the programs.

Before I got enrolled in this program. I was living in a small grass thatched house which could not accomodate me with my family of five. During rainy season it was leaking and this destroyed most of my valuable items. I used the whole of my transfers of kshs 51,350 to build a modern three bedroom house as this was the most urgent and a priority to me and my family as well.

When I received my transfer, I was busy with the farm work. Then suddenly, I overheard my phone ringing, Upon checking I realised that I had received money from GiveDirectly. I was overwhelmed with joy and happiness, in that, I knew that I would be able to accomplish the goals that I had set. I then broke the good news to my wife who was equally happy and grateful. We then embarked on planning how we would cash out our money.

The biggest difference in my daily life today is that I was able to build a decent house for my family. My wife and children are all happy. GiveDirectly has lifted our living standard amazingly by giving out the unconditional transfer. I am optimistic that with my second transfer, I will be able to complete the house fully. GiveDirectly has empowered our lives and gave us hope for a better tomorrow. I am so grateful for the support that overwhelmingly impacted our lives positively.

I am a consistent farmer, married and blessed with twelve children of which five of them are still under my care. Upon the receipt of my initial transfer, I opted to build a decent house for my family. This is because the house that I was living in was old and grass-thatched. I was unable to construct an iron sheet house before due to financial constraints as a result of school fees responsibilities. Therefore I used all of the KES 55,000 on the construction, Though the house was not fully completed. I am optimistic that I will be able to accomplish this goal once I receive my second transfer. I am grateful for the support that lifted my living standard to a better one in society.