I have been living in a mud-walled house for the longest time I can remember. This structure requires a lot of maintenance and since I cannot do that myself due to health issues, I usually depend on my children and other family members to maintain it for me. I sometimes feel that I take so much of their time which they would have otherwise utilized it somewhere else. The mud floor also usually has a lot of dust and it is unhealthy. This will soon change because of the new house that I am almost done building. The iron roofed and timber walled house with the cemented floor will not require much maintenance. Apart from this, I will also be harvesting rainwater for domestic use. I am really happy and grateful to GiveDirectly for enabling me to achieve all this.

In my opinion, GiveDirectly did well by deciding to uplift our living standards through the support they gave us. Through the transfers, many people have been able to build and renovate their houses, take their children to school and also acquire assets such as livestock that they can lean on in case of a financial crisis. I do not see anything that they did not do well.

I spent my second transfer to buy some materials that I am planning to use in cementing a house for my family. I bought some cement, wire mesh, polythene paper, gravel, sand, and paid for the labor. I am glad since the work will commence immediately the rains in our region stops or reduces. Also, I paid school fees for my children in secondary school. I settled on this since I did not want them to be sent back home. I spent the remaining amount to buy food for my family.

Ever since I received my transfer, my life has never been the same again. This is because I have been able to prepare my farm for the planting season early unlike before. I have bought enough maize seeds and tilled the farm and I am now waiting for the rains to start so that I can plant. Previously, this would always take most of my time and I would end up planting late. This always resulted in low yields which would not last us till the next harvesting season. Being able to do timely preparation is the biggest difference in my daily life as I am now optimistic of a good harvest.

It was a few minutes to 4 am when I received the message alert on my phone. Upon reading its content and realized that GiveDirectly had sent me the promised money, I became so happy. I gave thanks to God for the blessings that had just come in and went back to sleep knowing that I would be able to finally meet my life goals.

When I received my first transfer, I spent some amount to buy some building materials majorly timber, poles, nails and iron sheets to use in building a house for my family. I settled on this since I have been living in an iron sheet thatched house whose walls and the floor are made of mud. Building a decent house whose walls are made of timber will reduce dust circulating in the house since I will cement the floor. Also, the cleaning process will have been made easier and less time-consuming. Also, I bought some maize seeds and hired a tractor to till my farm in preparation for planting. I still have some amount that I am planning to use to commence the construction work.