Farming arrowroots has been the main economic activity and a source of stable food for my family of seven. The tuber has been doing so well in my swampy piece of land since I started planting three years ago. Initially, it was a subsistence crop that I thought will serve my family alone, but at the moment; I have been extracting and selling fresh roots and arrowroot flour - rich in starch and energy. Motivated by the ready market and the intense demand, my new goal is to expand the plantation to enhance a relatively high production that translates to a better income for my family.

Many people who received the transfer transformed their families' lives a lot. Many beneficiaries constructed better houses after demolishing the old grass-thatched huts they lived in. In my household, we paid school fees and completed the construction of an extra house for my two sons, who had been seeking a place to sleep in the neighborhood. Compared to other organizations I have seen before, GiveDirectly's financial support was a unique model that allowed us to determine how to spend. The approach was fair in that they visited every household, and the heads had to consent to the enrollment or not. No one complained after, but will forever thank GiveDirectly for their generous support.

Among the seven members of my family is my elderly mother, who has been under our care because of his age and her sickly condition. With her in our household, my two sons had to be displaced from their room, which is currently occupied by their grandmother. Every time they are out of school, my sons seek a bed space in the neighborhood which is hardly comfortable for them. With the first budget I had with the first transfer, I could not construct a new house but, I am grateful that the second transfer was timely to put up a new spacious house for them. I spent KES 15000 on buying 16 iron sheets and other construction materials and KES 3000 to pay the labor force for the construction process. To collect the rainwater from the roof, I also bought a plastic tank at KES 2500 that has made it easier for my sons to fetch and use clean water during rainy periods. I also bought a Pedigree alpines goat at KES 8000 that will potentially provide my children with high proteins per serving milk compared to the standard cow's milk. To provide for all my mother's needs at her age, including the frequent hospital visits, I saved the remaining amount, and I am glad she has never missed her doctor's appointment.

It was 7:18 am and I was on my way to the shop to buy sugar when suddenly I heard my phone ringing notifying me of a new message. I stopped to check it and wow! I could not believe my eyes when I read the SMS which was saying that I had received KES 55000 in my mobile money account. I was so happy on seeing this that I changed my mind about going to the shop. I went back home and I told my wife the good news. She was so happy on hearing about it and we celebrated together giving thanks to God. We now knew that our lives were going to change for the better.

The transfer has brought a big difference in our lives as a family. We are happy because we now have a cow of our own unlike before. We also have enough to eat since we managed to buy some maize for our consumption with part of the transfer.

We spent KES 32000 of our recent transfer on buying a cow that we have been rearing for quite some time. We had borrowed the cow from someone and he had told us that in case we get some money in the future, we buy it. We had however not managed to get the money for buying it since we have been struggling with the payment of school fees for our five children. We used to have some cows of our own but we had to sell them to raise money for paying school fees. We do not have stable sources of income. I have planted arrowroots on my farm and I have some banana plantations. I usually supply the arrowroots to a hotel which is in the nearby main town and we also usually consume them as lunch. I also usually sell bananas. When the cow has calved, I usually supply some of the milk to the school where my children are studying and by doing so, I get to pay part of the school fees. We are thus grateful to GiveDirectly for enabling us to achieve our goal of owning a cow. Other than that, we spent KES 6000 on buying a bag and a half of maize for our consumption. Maize does not usually do well in our area when planted and hence we usually buy it most of the time. We also sent some of the money to our two children who are in the university for upkeep. We sent KES 4000 to one and the other KES 3000. We saved the remaining amount and it has been helping us in purchasing the essential household items such as sugar, soap, etc when they get finished. Thank you so much GiveDirectly for the support.