My life is different than how it would have been if I never received the transfers in that I have bought a heifer. This is the best investment that I have always wished to start. I used to buy milk daily and this was so costly for me. In our village we depend on small scale farming mostly. To get some money to buy the dairy cow was so hard. The cost of buying milk daily was a huge task for me. When I received the second transfer I invested on this amazing business. I know in the next few months my family will have enough milk and I will sell the surplus to earn an income. I am so happy because GiveDirectly has changed my living standard. They have given me hope to still strive for greatness. I have devoted much of my time on this and I am planing to buy another dairy cow.

In my opinion GiveDirectly does well by giving money to the poor in the community to build better houses and to buy dairy cows. I do not find anything that GiveDirectly did not do well.

I spent part of the money I received from GiveDirectly on buying a heifer. This will enable me to cut the daily cost of buying milk. I also build a better house for my children, the used to live in a small house which could not host them comfortably. The rest of the money I spent on food for the family.

I was in the fields looking after my cow as it grazes when I heard a message notification on my phone. I decided to check it and I could not believe my eyes when I saw that it was an M-Pesa SMS saying that we had received the lump sum transfer from GiveDirectly. I was so happy to see this and I could not hide the joy to myself. I decided to take back the cow home and I went and informed my family of the good news. They were so happy too to hear this. I then hurriedly prepared myself and I went to withdraw the money.

This transfer has brought a big difference in my life and that of my family. The money has enabled us to expand the small house that we have been living in it. We, therefore, have more space that is enough for us and our grandchildren. It has always been our dream to do so but due to financial constraints, we have not been in a position to do so. The calf that I bought will help me in the future when it reproduces. We will be able to get milk for our consumption and sale. They will also increase in number and thus I will be able to have more cows, I can therefore sell them whenever I face any money challenges. Having bought the D-light solar with its battery, I no longer have stress dealing with the small solar lamps that I have been buying and getting spoiled. There is more lighting in the house because there are bulbs in every room. The bag of maize that I bought, will enable us to have something to eat for a while as we wait for the maize that is on the farm to ripen. We will therefore not be having any worries about what we are to eat for some time.

This transfer from GiveDirectly helped me a lot. I bought a calf with part of the money and I expanded the house that we are living in. I also bought D-light solar with its battery. With the rest of the money, I used it in buying a bag of maize that will serve as food for my family. I have always wanted to expand the house that we are living in for it to be bigger and have more rooms because the one that we have been living in it has been small and space was no longer enough for us and our grandchildren. I also wanted to buy D-light solar with its battery because I have been buying solar lamps that were acting as a source of lighting in the house but they have been getting spoiled each time. I, therefore, felt that I was wasting so much money buying them every time. I also wanted a calf because I wanted something that will act as my source of income in the future. I was however not able to do the above before because my wife and I are old and we are no longer able to work to earn a living. The said developments have therefore been hard for us to achieve because we did not have money to do so. We thank GiveDirectly for making this possible for us.