99% of the households in my village buy maize on a daily basis and this was majorly contributed by the long draught season we experienced last year. Apart from this, we have been experiencing frustrations due to pests that have been destroying our maize plantations. This has given me a clear picture of the business that I would love to venture into. I am currently saving money that I will eventually use to start this business of buying and selling maize in our village.

In my opinion, GiveDirectly did well by sending cash directly to our mobile phones. The training that was conducted before enrollment helped us to spend the cash transfer wisely by starting up businesses and building modern houses since it was unconditional. I do not see anything that it did not do well.

When I received my transfer, I bought a water tank worth KES 17000 with a capacity of 23000 liters. I settled on this so that I will be using it to harvest rainwater during the rainy season. With this, I will not have to walk for a long distance looking for water for domestic use. Also, I spent KES 20000 to pay school fees for my children who had been sent back home. I had not been able to pay their fees on time since I depend on dairy farming to support my family and in paying school fees for our four children and this money is not always enough. I spent the remaining amount on food, clothes, and some school necessities that were needed.

One of my neighbors had visited me and forgot her phone when she left and after some minutes, she came back for it claiming that some villagers had received their money from GiveDirectly. I immediately took my phone and to my surprise, the money had indeed been sent. I became so happy and I informed the rest of my family members who in turn joined me in celebration.

I have made a major step in life and this has made me happier and at peace with myself. With the transfer, I was able to clear fee arrears for my children who were almost being sent back home. Because of this, they have been able to concentrate on their studies and I believe that their performance will greatly improve since they do not skip any classes. Knowing this has given me peace of mind and I am now able to concentrate on my daily activities without having to worry about their fees.

Having a secure and more permanent place to use in storing my farm produce has been my aim. This is because I have been storing them in our sitting room after harvest and because of this, everyone who visited my house would see what I harvested and the quantity. Also, my produce would at times be invested by termites due to keeping them on the floor and this usually leads to damages. When I received my transfer, I decided to spend KES 35000 to solve this problem by building a granary. In addition, I used KES 14000 to pay school fees for my two children in secondary school since I had been sent an SMS indicating that they would be sent back home if their fee arrears were not cleared. I spent the remaining KES 5000 on food and other household necessities that we did not have.