Initially, my primary goal was to buy an additional cow. I previously had 3 cows that could not produce sufficient milk for my household consumption. Immediately, I achieved this goal, I developed a plan on how to raise school fees for my children. For instance, I was able to pay off school fee arears worth KES 7,000 hence I felt some relief. As a result of this, my children had an ample time to study with minimal disruption.

In my opinion, through unconditional cash transfer, GiveDirectly does so well in alleviating poverty. Without GD program, my family would have not made the positive strides we have so far made in life. Secondly, GiveDirectly has mastered the art of following on its recipients thus it is always in touch with the recipients. I have never seen what GiveDirectly does not do right.

From my most recent transfer, I spent KES 25,000 on buying a heifer. In addition to the 3 cows I previously had, I shall be able get adequate milk not only for my household consumption but also for sale. This will help me to get additional income for my household. Since I have a larger family of 6, I also spent KES 20,000 on buying new set of clothes and food stuffs for my family. I am so happy that nowadays, everyone looks very presentable. Thanks to GiveDirectly for its support.

It was around 11:30 pm and we were not yet asleep since our children were still studying and we were helping them study. Suddenly, I heard my phone ringing notifying me of a new message. I decided to check it and I could not believe my eyes when I opened the SMS to check the contents. The SMS was saying that we had received the promised transfer of KES 55000 from GiveDirectly. I was so happy about the pleasant surprise and I showed my family the good news. They were so happy on seeing the SMS and we celebrated together giving thanks.

The transfer brought a very big difference in our lives as a family. This is because, with the water tank that we bought, we have been able to collect rainwater and hence we no longer make the long trips to the river which was consuming a lot of our time. We now have water for our household use and the cows. We have hence had more time to concentrate on our farm work.

We used the transfer money on various things that were important to us. We bought a cow at KES 23000 and an 8000-liter water tank at KES 21000. We also bought 3 bags of maize at KES 3200 per bag and another KES 1500 we used in paying school fees for our children. With the remaining amount of money, we used it in buying clothes for our children. Buying the cow and the tank was our topmost priority upon receiving the transfer. We had another cow but we saw it best to buy another so that it can help us in the near future with the children's school fees. With another cow, the milk production will increase, and hence we will have more milk for sale and thus more income. We also wanted the water tank because the river is very far and hence we usually make very long trips to the river to fetch water, especially during the dry season where some rivers usually dry up. As a result, we always end up spending so much time fetching water. With the water tank, we have been able to collect rainwater for our household use and for the cows to consume. We now hence have more time to concentrate on farming which we depend on to earn a living. We usually sell milk and plant maize and beans and when they do well, we usually sell some of it and we use the money in paying school fees for our four children. We are hence grateful to GiveDirectly because if it wasn't for their help, we wouldn't have managed to buy the cow and the tank.