Because of the drought that has persisted for some time now, I have been jobless and thus; I have a new goal of starting a business to help me become financially stable. The business will entail the sale of Omena and some fish, which are currently in high demand because of the lack of vegetables. Being a farmer, I depend heavily on the farm to grow crops which I later sell in the market after harvesting and use consume some at home.

Through helping the needy in the society GiveDirectly does really well. It is through the unconditional transfers that I have been able to turn my life around unlike before when I would sleep hungry due to lack of food. I now run a small business, have livestock, and have food to eat with my family. I am really grateful for the help.

As a farmer, I have always dreamt of practicing both crop and livestock farming. Because of financial challenges, I could not buy livestock for myself. Upon receiving my second transfer, I spent KSH 16000 to buy a 1 dairy cow and two goats. The cow will help me earn some extra income when I finally sell the milk. With the goats, I plan on rearing them and multiply in numbers and create wealth from it. Besides buying the livestock, I spent KSH 9000 to buy iron sheets and nails for building the roof of the new house. My house is too small to fit the whole family that I have. It is for this reason that I built an extra room to make the house specious. I later spent KSH 2000 to pay school fee arrears for my two children sent home because of the arrears. I am happy that they went back to school, continued with their studies and even sat for their end of term exams. With the effects of the drought hitting us hard, I spent KSH 2000 in starting a business selling Omena and fish to earn some income and support my family. With food no longer coming from the farm because of the drought I spent a huge portion of KSH 10000 in buying 24 packets of maize flour, 90 kgs of sugar, 90 kgs of beans, tea leaves, 10 liters of cooking oil, washing soap and other items to sustain my family for a longer period. I saved the remaining amount of money to be used in case of an emergency.

I was at my house relaxing after completing my work at the farm. I was narrating stories with my grandchildren who had come home from school. It was around 4 pm when I heard the neighbors rejoicing for receiving their transfer. My grandchild verified the mobile phone by checking the balance on the account. He informed me that I had received the transfer too, I was very happy about receiving the cash since I had never been in a possession of such a huge amount of money. I had already planned on how to spend it so I decided to wait until the next day to withdraw the transfer.

Owning decent beddings is the biggest difference in my life. Previously, I was using a small traditional threads bed with an old mat as beddings, which were uncomfortable. I was always experiencing body pains after sleeping something that makes my life miserable. The only time when I would use proper beddings is when I visited my relative in town. I am now happy and grateful spending quality sleep and waking up refreshed for my daily activities.

I spent KES 11,000 to purchase modern beddings for myself. This is because I was using a small traditional threads bed and old mat as my beddings, which were uncomfortable. Likewise, it was not enough for me and my 3 grandchildren. I also bought two calves for KES 22,000 with the intention to raise them so that I may be selling milk once they reproduce. Currently, I am buying milk from my neighbours every very costly day. In addition, I constructed an additional room for my house which was very small. The remaining amount assisted me in purchasing enough food for the family.