"By the time I was receiving my second transfer, my son who is in high school had been sent home due to fees arrear that he had accumulated over the previous term. Therefore, I spend $200 to clear the arrears and he was able to go back to school. The reason as to why I was not able to clear the fees arrears owes to the fact that, I am a gardener in a school where one of my children schools. With a salary of $95, I only receives $70 every month and the balance goes towards paying school fees. Being the sole provider of the family with five of my other children in school, I cannot manage to cater all the expenses and sometimes the children end up accumulating huge fees arrears. I spend the balance to build a semi permanent mud walled one bedroom house for three of my teenage boys whom had been staying with us in our two bedroom house. Although they were not comfortable staying with us because they were grown enough to have their own privacy, I wasn't able to build them a house due to financial incapability and this was the perfect time to do so."

"The moment I received my transfers from GiveDirectly, I knew it was time to complete all my pending projects. I took $200 and immediately went to pay my child's tuition who is currently in college pursuing his studies. I am a mother of 8 children and 7 of my children are in elementary school and the other one is in college. At night, the ones in elementary school used to struggle a lot because we had no electricity. They used to study using candles that really affected their performance. I took $100 and installed electricity at home that really made my children happy because they will no longer struggle a lot when it comes to studying. I spent $200 to build my family a spacious kitchen because previously I had a kitchen built of polythene but now I have a nice kitchen, thanks to GiveDirectly."

"GiveDirectly's assistance went a long way toward improving our standard of living. It arrived just in time because I needed to pay my children's school fees. My husband and I are farmers. Additionally, I am a pastor at our local church. We have ten children, three of whom are adults. As a result, I spent $300 on school fees for my high school-aged children. I then spent $100 on two sacks of maize. Due to financial constraints, this was previously not possible since we depended on farming which was not productive due to weather changes. I am overjoyed and grateful that GiveDirectly's assistance has significantly improved my life."

"Living in poverty stricken area where prolonged droughts are normal has not been easy. Since farming is not an option for us and I don't have any livelihood skills, I am a housewife and my husband is the sole bread winner. I have always desired to bring something to the table and help my husband who is a charcoal burner with the family responsibilities but I have never had financial capability to raise enough capital to start a business. Our family desire to own domestic animals also seemed like a nightmare because we have never owned any domestic animal. When I received my second transfer, I spend $175 to buy five mature goats and $250 to buy a cow. I can not express the joy felt by my family especially my children seeing domestic animals around the compound for the first time! I spend the balance to buy food that lasted us for a while. I am so thankful to GiveDirectly for the financial support and making our long life dream come true."

"I was able to solve a good number of my problems with GiveDirectly's transfers. I am happy that I now have humble time to focus on crop farming and produce plenty of food for my family of six."

"My passion has been to keep and invest in goats rearing. I was so excited when I received my second transfer as I saw myself venturing into this long awaited business. I took KES 15000 of my money to buy four goats and kickstart my dream. I had not cleared school fees arrears for my daughter in secondary school. This prompted me to spare KES 10000 of my transfer and pay her school fee. Our house had no furniture, I used KES 10000 to buy two couch which my children happy."

"I am yet to complete the renovation of our house. The goal that I have currently is buying and putting up doors to my house. At the moment, it does not have doors which is risky, especially at night. In addition, I wish to start a small grocery business selling dry fish and kale around the village to earn a living to support myself financially."

"Well, the other day I found what is most certainly the type of house I hope to call my own someday. So I'm working hard to see myself in my own house in the next few years and ensure my children don't have to go through what we are facing."

"I'm an old retired clerk about 2 years ago with no benefit from the government.After my retirement, things began to get tough over the years. I couldn't afford to sustain my family financially and complete the house we are presently residing in.Therefore, with a little funding from this unique organisation, I was able to buy enough cement and some building materials for completion of the house which I'm forever greatful."

"All my life as a child, I have always dreamt of becoming a home owner. In the past few years, life has been tough . We used to go in search of palmnuts in the bush and sell them in order to survive.I wasn't able to enroll all my five children in school, but with the help from Givedirectly I'm now able to enroll all of my children in school.I have set up a property for my children and ensure that they have what they need and don't have to depend on others for assistance anymore."