My new goal is to purchase a plot of land at our nearest market. The intention is to build a small shop that would be a steady income-generating activity for the family to supplement the income from subsistence crop farming. This is because we are currently experiencing climate change that has resulted in low rain which has affected crop farming negatively.

In my opinion, Givedirectly do well in conducting awareness meetings to give households the necessary information about the program before the actual enrollment . This helped us to have a better understanding of the program itself and the various stages. I do not see anything that the organisation did not do well.

Being a subsistence farmer, my desire was to boost crop farming by purchasing oxen and ox-plow. I used KES 47,000 to acquire two oxen at KES 15,000 each and an ox-plow. Currently, I have completed training them and are ready to start working. Formally, I was using my hands to plowing which was slow and yielded a low harvest. In addition, I used KES 3000 to restart goat rearing by purchasing one goat as a future investment for our 2 kids who are yet to join primary school. I am opportunistic that they will be able to learn without any challenge after selling the animals once they reproduced. The remaining amount assisted us in purchasing food for the family since there is famine in our area.

It was exactly 5 in the evening when I was at the bush fetching firewood when I heard a message tone from my cellphone. Without hesitating, I decided to check the contents of the messages since I went expecting to hear from any of my relatives, or friends. Tears of joy rolled down my cheeks after confirming that I had received my first cash transfers. I was so certain that I would finally build my house courtesy of GiveDirectly.

The biggest difference in my daily life that I will always mention is the fact that I now have a permanent shelter. The previous one was just a traditional house with a grass thatched roof which could leak excessively during the winter seasons. It has been my wish to have a presentable house but this was achievable since I didn't have enough funds to purchase the materials needed. Being jobless hasn't been easy because we could only rely on my spouse for our daily needs. He however did not have a stable therefore providing for all our basic needs including housing was so hard. We have been rained on throughout whenever it could rain and I had to force my kids to sleep at my relative's houses since they could withstand the cold nights. My marriage life has been so awful but I was optimistic that it shall be well with time. Currently, my family and I are happy because we no longer have to worry about unfavorable weather or communal isolation. Moreover, I can comfortably host my visitors.

I spent a portion of the first transfer on buying some building materials which is comprised of building poles at KES 15000, timber at KES 5000, iron sheets at KES 20000, and the labor charges of KES 10000. I had to prioritize the issue of housing because the previous one had old grass-thatched roofing, also it was very small in size. Some of my children have been sheltering at my relative's house which I was not comfortable with. In addition to that, I bought a new mattress at KES 4000 which was replace the old one which had worn out. I have been experiencing some sleepless nights with lots of back pains as a result. Finally, with the remaining cash, I bought foodstuffs for my family and other household items that I was lacking.