"I quickly contributed to a chama that I am a part of and whose payout time had come. I then progressed to repairing the roof that has been in tatters for the past year and a half. I then prioritised stocking up on food and the likes for me and my three kids. The GiveDirectly transfers came when needed most. It had been rough, with my wife living in Kilifi where she's a teacher, with our third born and only both coming to see us over the weekend. I work as a tout at Ganze Centre, operating during the day shift. My wife brings home $120 a month teaching at Mindset Academy, while I make $10 a day. With the usual recurring bills, $15 a month for my first born tuition and $ 5 for the second born , both of whom go to Ganze Primary, my wife's expenses in Kilifi, not to mention school fees for the 3rd born who studies where the mom teaches, we are barely left with enough to save. The funds from GiveDirectly allowed us to do things that would have taken us decades if not years to achieve on our own"

"I get excited at the possibility of my kids one day wearing nice clothes. I would like to help them get as far as possible in their education, so they can in future get good jobs, wear nice clothes and generally love a life better than we as parents had."

"Before GiveDirectly came into my life, my eldest had lived for 25 years without having slept in a bed, nor on a mattress. My house was in shambles and having three kids that had dropped out was both emotionally painful as well as financially strenuous since I had to do it all alone. GiveDirectly gave me a new life. I now have clothes, a bed, a mattress and a better place all round to raise my children. What GiveDirectly does well is renew the lives of those who thought their lives were at an end."

"I am grateful to GiveDirectly for providing us with an equal amount of transfers and the freedom to spend it as we saw fit in our households. Unlike material goods, monetary assistance allowed us to make informed spending decisions that had a direct impact on our daily lives. I have nothing to complain about after the entire process because GiveDirectly kept all of its promises."

"With the second transfer, I spent $330 to purchase two cows that have been producing milk and thus saved me from buying milk daily. The excess milk I sell to my neighbors and use the money to buy food and other household stuff for daily use. Five out of my nine children who are in school had fees arrears of $60 and I had to clear it for them to remain in school. Due to the harsh drought experienced in the country, food was a major problem. Sometimes we had to sleep on empty stomachs. I used $40 of the remaining cash to buy new clothes for my children and $100 in buying food for my family which included 1 sack of maize, rice, corn flour, and salad oil."

"GiveDirectly is the first of the many organizations that have been working in the nearby villages to give their support in monetary form. I am satisfied with the approach from the start of the program to the end when we receive the second transfer. I have no complaints at all to report."

"Even though we sometimes struggle to pay school fees for my three children, I have set a new goal of opening a new business selling vegetables. This will help substitute my husband’s income and I can be chipping in to pay some recurring bills."

"I intend to acquire a piece of land where I can build a big house to shelter my family. The current one is quite small and won’t be able to accommodate my growing family. I also hope to venture into livestock farming and thus I have plans of adding some more livestock to the existing flock."

"GiveDirectly was welcomed into the village with great happiness and I can attest that our expectations of their delivery did not disappoint. I believe everyone concurs with a great job done in every household with no bias or discrimination. I have no complaints since the monetary support I received met most of the family needs I had planned."

"fees 3k, building 30k, 2 mbuzi 7k, clothes 4k, food 3k have 5 kids, bed 6k, am farmer separated with hubby"