"It has been the trend that every household is moving from the old grass thatched houses to modern and decent one. I have wished to construct a nice house for my family like other in the village but I have not accomplished this desire due to inadequate financial resources. Currently, I am living in an incomplete grassy thatched roofed house which is about to collapse. I am planning to spend 300 dollars in building a specious iron-roofed house something that will earn me the respect I have lost for long. Also, I will use the remaining amount to purchase 10 goats that will act as my future investment for the family."

"To have a decent shelter has been my direst need for a very long time. I am not comfortable in my current house because it is too small to accommodate my family of 10. This has forced 3 of my children to seek shelter in our relatives' houses. This situation is quite stressful since I fear for their security at night. I also feel that they might get exposed to immoral behaviour since I cannot monitor them closely. In addition to being small, the house is also in a very poor condition. The walls are almost collapsing and the roof is leaking making it more life threatening. I will therefore use part of this transfer to construct a better house to save my family the agony of poor housing."

"When I received my first transfer, I decided to use all the amount to build a decent house for my family. I bought 24 pieces of iron sheets, nails, timber and also paid a mason the full cost of building this house. We settled on this as a family since the one we were living in was old and its roof had started leaking during the rainy season. I am now glad since my wife will not be walking for a long distance looking for clay to dust the house."

"I was previously sheltering in an old house which was grass thatched and also was in a state of collapsing. My dream was to live in a decent shelter but because I could not afford to buy any of the building materials, I had to continue living in this house. When I received my transfer, I spent a larger portion of it to purchase enough building materials which include 26 pieces of iron sheets, building poles and other materials, including paying the mason for his job. I am grateful to GiveDirectly for offering this financial support to us. At least now I was able to build a new iron-roofed house and thus upgraded from the grass thatched house. To me, building a new decent house for my family is the biggest difference in my daily life."

"I spent part of my first transfer on buying some building materials such as iron sheets, building poles, cement, timber, and some nails. This was purposely for the construction of a new house. The previous one was a small hut with an old leaky roof. I then bought some goats as my potential assets. I decided to buy them because of the climatic condition in my village and they also reproduce twice a year and thus gives me hope that I will become wealthier in a short period of time. The remaining amount of money I bought some sufficient foodstuffs for my family that would take jus to the next harvesting season."

"I have long been living in an open-roofed house but with the help of my elder son who is doing casual activities at Mombasa, he managed to buy for me 20 pieces of iron sheets for roofing. These pieces were not enough and he could not purchase more due to financial challenges hence, half of the roof is still open. In addition to this, I spend my nights on the floor something that gives me backaches in the mornings. My first plan is to spend at most $150 to finish roofing my house and purchasing of beddings. This will open a new chapter for my life since I have never owned a wooden bed plus a mattress. On the other hand, my second plan is to spend $2800 to buy indigenous dairy cows since they are cheap to rear and this will assure me of milk to sell when they give birth in the future. In addition, I intend to buy an oxen and ox plow to help me in upscaling my farming. Hence, a transformed life that I have long wished."

"A decent home and new beddings are generally what receiving this money means to me. Currently, I spend my nights with my grown-up children in the same house and this is culturally unethical. I am forced to live this kind of life due to being financially unstable and considering that I am a widow. The desire to own a separate and decent house has in many years gone unachieved but with the arrival of GiveDirectly to our village, my hope got renewed and I am sure of spending utmost $250 to buy iron sheets in order to roof my house which of now is at superstructure level. My other plan is to use $320 on buying an oxen and ox plow inclusively. This will assure me of maximum farm produce and hence, food security to my family."

"I am spending the first transfer on preparing timber as I get ready to build a house. As we speak now, I am coming back from the place where I found wood that I am using to make timber. I bought enough trees and am now working with someone with a power saw to ensure that I get high-quality timber. I already bought iron roofing sheets. All is set for groundbreaking on Thursday, this week. This is the day when the house construction will begin. This is a big leap towards reaching my dream of improving my home."

"I am still living in a grass-thatched house which I am hoping to bring down and construct an iron-roofed one as it is not in a very good condition. I have been purchasing the required construction materials, but I do not have enough yet, so my main goal is to keep purchasing them untill I can finally construct a new house."

"Looking at the many changes which have occurred after receiving the transfer from GiveDirectly, the biggest difference in my daily life is the start of the construction of a new house. For many years we have been living under leaking roofs and it is a great feeling that we are soon going to move into a new house."