Having no spouse to help in providing basic needs like food has been extremely difficult since I have to fend for myself. Also, the walls of my house are cracked and have big holes that let in cold winds during the night. When I received the transfers, I committed KES 1300 to buy food for the family. Additionally, I used KES 1,500 to secure cement to facilitate the renovation of my house. I used the remaining amount to buy a hen which I hope will multiply and increase my sources of funds.

Other than being old, I am a person living with a disability. My children have completed school and are working in Mombasa as casual laborers. Since I am unemployed, I depend on them for financial support. Now with these funds from give directly, my dependency on them has drastically reduced as now I can afford a meal for myself. My first transfer of ksh1200, came in when I had suffered a bad fall. So, I spent it all on my hospital bill. When I got my second transfer of ksh3000, I used ksh1000 to buy beans, bread, and milk. I then saved the remaining amount. As for my third transfer, I used it to buy a bundle of maize flour that costs 1200, 2kg sugar, and whatever amount remained, I used it on food.

In my opinion, GiveDirectly dies well in terms of helping the vulnerable and physically challenged in society. I am happy that I was enrolled in the program and got the help I wanted. With the funds, I am currently receiving I am sure I will be able to be independent and improve the quality of my life.

I am physically disabled. I live all by myself in the village. I depend heavily on my two sons who are casual laborers in the city. This means that when they do not send me money at times I do spend several days without eating anything. I have always depended on my small farm at the back of my house to grow small food products such as cassava, maize, vegetables, and other foodstuffs. This has not been possible for the past few years and it has made me fully dependent on my sons for my survival. When I received the second transfer I spent a huge portion of the transfer on buying food. The drought situation has made everything expensive and with no food, on my farm, I have to buy everything from the shop. I spent a total of KSH 2500 on buying food. To me, this was the right step to take since my sons had not sent me anything for the last two months and my food stock in the house was almost getting finished. I also spent the remaining KSH 500 in buying water for my use at home. With my condition, I cannot go about fetching water. Water is very hard to find these days and one has to walk for several kilometers to get it cheaply otherwise you have to buy it at very high prices from the vendors.

I received the text message at around 8 am in the morning. I was sweeping the compound. When I checked my phone I confirmed that indeed I had received the cash from GiveDirectly. I was very happy that I had received the money. I was not expecting to receive that amount of money from anybody. I immediately prayed and thanked God for that.

The money has made a big difference in my life. I can tell you that is getting difficult every day. There are no jobs, food is scarce, and very expensive. Above all, I am physically challenged and depend on my sons for my everyday survival so the money has helped me and I am very grateful for that.

The biggest problem I have been facing and my family has been food. The drought conditions we are experiencing at the moment are not good enough for us to be able to farm and get food from our farms. This has then left us in a state of confusion as we all depend on growing food that we sell and some used as food at our homes. So due to this, when I received the cash I spent KSH 800 in buying food for my family. That was a priority since we did not have anything left to eat. I also decided to save the remaining KSH 400. This amount would greatly help me in times of emergency.