My life is currently different from how it was in that I do not strain so much to get money. Initially, I could get meagre pay from weeding people's sugarcane plantation for long hours. During this period, I acquired a lot of debts since the casual jobs were unreliable and could not be enough to sustain my family. The little that I got from the casual jobs could be spent on food and paying the debts. Right now, I can afford to visit my relatives easily using the motorcycle that I use as a taxi to get income. I rarely take loans from people since I started receiving transfers from Give Directly hence the good relationship with my neighbours and relatives has also improved.

In my opinion, GiveDirectly truly helps the poor people. The transfer we received helped us in different ways and ended up uplifting the living standards of people in this village. Give Directly are also trustworthy since they always keep their promise. We were given the exact amounts as promised. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong that this organization does.

I spent a larger portion of my second transfer on purchasing a second-hand motorcycle. This is an idea that I have had for a long time because of the various profits that come with it. It has always come in handy when I need to travel because I do not have to pay transport to get the services but drive myself to places that I want. Currently I am using it to ferry people and goods to different destinations which earns me good money to sustain my family. Previously, I could do odd jobs such as weeding sugarcane plantations or sell firewood to earn a living. Today, I feel relieved because the motorcycle business is less tiresome and more convenient compared to casual jobs. I also invested in farming. I hired people hence cultivated a large area of land and bought farm inputs to boost my farm produce. I finally used the remaining part of the money to add beddings for my children. My three children used to cover themselves with a small blanket and at time I ended up checking on them in the middle of the night to make sure that at least each of them coved themselves but most of the case one could be left out in the cold night but I am glad that I managed to buy three brand new blankets that they nowadays use to cover themselves comfortably.

The biggest difference in my daily life is having a roof over my head. Nowadays I share the same prayers with my neighbors who have iron-roofed houses. I also want the rains to fall too knowing that my children are secure and will not be rained on. They are no longer scared too like they were when we were staying in a grass thatched house. You see, something funny about these grass thatched houses are dark even at daytime when the sun is up and sending a child in the next room to get you something makes them feel like you are sending them to hell. This is no longer the case.

Madam, she calls me, when you are poor, you do not sleep. You find yourself tossing in bed since you are always worried of the next day. When people pray that the rains come so that they can plant, you pray that it does not because your children will be rained on. On this day was just like the other days, I was not sleeping, I took my phone to have a look at nothing in particular, and saw the message. I woke my wife up to help me confirm that it was money. It was money!!, she said. I could not imagine myself having 55000 KES, my own money. I was super happy at the same time confused but when morning came, my first stop was at a hardware ready to pay for the building materials. I am still so happy about receiving this transfer. Thank you GiveDirectly.

I was staying in a grass thatched house. It was in a very bad condition,dark and leaking. My area is all full of sugarcane plantations and getting grass to cover a house in this modern society where almost everyone lives in an iron-roofed house makes it more difficult. One has to travel across counties to look for grass, and here again you have to pay for it. I do not even have that kind of money. My odd menial jobs to do not earn me much and to cut the long story short, I was poor, extremely poor, "chuckles". And I am sure when such kind of statistics was to be taken in my village, I would not be left out. You can imagine how I felt when I received money from GiveDirectly. I immediately headed to the hardware, bought building materials, and hired people to help me construct a new house. I am so happy staying in an iron-roofed house. I feel different, I feel like I have achieved the most out of this world. I did not stop there, I also bought a solar lamp using the remaining amount. Even though I am not there,but I feel like I am rich.. "laughs"