In four months’ time, my new goal for my life is to venture into the shop business. I live in a village where shops are fetched far apart. One would take quite some time before reaching to a shop. Although this shop is also an income-generating activity, I believe I am trying to give back to society by bringing services closer to the people.

The biggest difference in my daily life in the last four months is that I am currently in a good specious house. I had not even thought of building one because I have been living in abject poverty. Little did I know that an organization by the name GiveDirectly would one day come to help me write my story afresh. I also boast of a cow which is currently our source of milk and livelihoods altogether. The money that we get from the sale of milk has been helping me in running my family’s daily expenses something that has been a challenge to me in the past.

In six months’ time, I expect to have already begun working in an already running shop. Since this is the next goal that I am planning to achieve, I believe that all my efforts are going towards realizing this goal and by the sixth month, I will have solved a problem where people go for miles in search of goods and services.

My life is currently different from how it was four ago in that I have been able to improve on my farming practices. Due to this, my farm produce has increased and it has made me meet some of our needs. This has also help me cut down my daily expenditure as I no longer buy most of the food items.

When GiveDirectly came for enrollment, I laid down all the things I wanted to achieve using the transfers. Since I was a drunkard at that time, I decided to quit taking alcohol as I knew that the money would not help me in any way if I continued with my drinking habits. At the moment, I have been able to achieve two of my goals which are owning a dairy cow and building a house for myself. I am now working towards achieving my third goal which is to build a shop where I will be dealing with household items. I will operate and expand it with time until it becomes a retail shop.

The biggest difference in my daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer is that I am now living a happy life after getting married. I had always promised myself that I will never get married before being financially stable. Through the use of the transfers, I have been able to develop different income generating activities which enabled me to pay part of the dowry recently after some negotiations.

My life will no longer be the same again in the next six months since I will have harvested and sold the vegetables which are currently on the farm. I will use the money I will get to start other income-generating activities. In addition to this, I will have built a shop using the bonuses I will be given by the tea factory near my home where I have been supplying green tea leaves for processing.

Four months ago, I did not own a cow. I saved the monthly transfers and topped up with some proceeds from my tea buying business and bought a dairy cow for rearing. Soon, the cow will give birth and the milk produced will be used at home and thus reduce the usual daily expenses. The excess milk will be sold for an income. I also feel proud because in our culture, a man is considered man enough when he owns a cow! I am grateful to Givedirectly for making me man enough.

I am planning to build a small retail shop at the edge of our piece of land that borders the road. This is a strategic position since it is close to the road and there's a tea buying center. This will be another source of income generating activity.

The biggest difference in my daily life is that I now live in a decent and a good house that I built using the transfers that I get every month. Before I built the current house, we used to stay in a small old house that wasn't as comfortable and warm like the current house. Now I do not need to worry about catching a cold during the upcoming cold season. We also have enough and good food, thanks to Givedirectly.

My expectation in the near future is to generally improve my lifestyle for the better. I want to ensure that my children can access all the basic needs they require. I also expect my business to start and pick up well so as to have good returns. I want to live a fulfilling life that I can be proud of.

My life is currently different from how it was four months ago in that my business has been boosted. I am empowered to do more of my jobs than before. I currently live happly and comfotably in my house and I have hired more tea bushes to increase my income.

The new goal that I have developed in the last for my life is to buy a cow.

The biggest difference in my daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer is that I am happy that I have built a new house. I currently live in my house with my own pleasure unlike before when we used to live with my brothers in a small house.

In the six months, I expect to get married.

I am planning to set up my own shop in three to five months, I am planning to set up a grinding mill and improve my house from mud-walled to wooden wall.

My life is currently different because with these transfers I am assured of accomplishing my vision of owning a shop and improving own house.

I expect to my tea crop kilograms to increase in the the next six months because I intend to hire a tea farm using the next transfer hence increased income and financial stability.

The biggest difference in my daily life is that these transfer has boosted my tea buying business by increasing number of kilograms and have helped to reduce my tea buying budget for this month.