I was at home, relaxing in the shade of my house and feeling unwell when I heard my phone ring. When I checked, I saw it was an M-Pesa message confirming that I had received exactly $200. My heart raced with happiness! Just then, my son arrived and asked if I had received the money. I told him I had, but he said he had not received his money, as he was also expecting a payment from GiveDirectly. However, as we spoke, his phone rang too, confirming that he had received his share as well. We all shouted with joy, overwhelmed by our good fortune. The first thought that crossed my mind was to repair the door of my house, as we had previously worked on the repairs but didn’t have a door because the old one had been destroyed by ants.

Before receiving the cash transfer, life was very difficult for me and my husband. We are old, and finding money to take care of our needs was a big challenge, especially after our cow was attacked by dogs and died. I had no money to harvest my maize, which made things even harder. However, with the transfer, I was able to harvest and shell my maize, getting 540 kgs. I achieved this because of GiveDirectly, and I am very appreciative, despite the heavy rains and strong winds that damaged some of the crops. Now, we are happy and thankful because we no longer worry about where our next meal will come from. The cash transfer gave us the relief we needed and allowed us to stay home comfortably while taking care of our livestock.

It was a challenging time for both my husband and me, as we were feeling unwell, suffering from a cold flu. We decided to spend $30 on medication to ensure we got better soon. Health is everything, and without it, we couldn’t manage the house or farm, so it was our first priority. After getting better, the next thing on my mind was fixing our house. With $30, I managed to repair the door that had been destroyed by ants, which was long overdue. The sitting room door was broken too, and it felt so good to finally have our home in better shape. For a while, I had been worried about how I would afford to harvest and shell my maize. I even considered selling one of my cows to cover the expenses. But when the cash transfer arrived, I quickly put that thought aside and used $65 for the harvesting and shelling instead. This saved me from losing one of our valuable cows, which would have been hard on the family. Additionally, I purchased one sheep for $50. We had five sheep already, but I wanted to ensure we had something for December celebrations. Buying one more meant we could slaughter it during the festive season without reducing our small flock. The remaining $25 went to buying food for the family. We are a family of eight, and although my children are employed and assist us, we often get into debt with local shops, repaying at the end of the month. With this money, we could stock our home with food and avoid the usual struggle of borrowing. Overall, this cash transfer gave me relief, especially knowing that we are prepared for both everyday needs and the upcoming holiday season.