CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY:

For years, she's made tough decisions on whether to pay those fees, buy food, or improve her tiny, mud-thatched home, with its leaky tin roof. Then, last year, a U.S. based nonprofit organization called "GiveDirectly" came to her village and offered her $1000 in cash — ten times her annual earnings — and said she could spend it on whatever she wanted.

70 percent of the 281 families in this village received cash from GiveDirectly, which targets people living on less than $1 a day. Ndiwa used her cash to build this bigger house.

How has life changed now that you've gotten this cash?