"I'm an old woman without any reliable source of income, but with a ton load of responsibilities. Out of five, three of my children are still fully under my care with one attending a local day secondary school and the other two are waiting to join colleges. My husband works as a security guard in Malindi town where he lives with his other wife and only sending me $30 monthly to take care of the family. This is hardly enough and most of the time, I have been forced to also make and sell firewood to top it up. The firewood business can fetches a maximum of $5 per week. I still end up spending nearly the whole amount on food and basic family supplies."

"I have been suffering from pains in my feet. This is my current challenge because I can't work and provide for my family. I'm unable to stand for long and therefore I cannot provide for my family. This has made me stay at home and depend on my husband who is also old and cannot work. We have grandchildren and we depend on livestock and our small farm to provide for them. I'm sad because I can't work because of this illness."

"I want to see my life better and i think it would be better when i am done with my new house and my kids and i move into it with that, i would feel accomplish because getting a new house is my biggest dream now."

"For the longest time now, I have been saving a small portion of my transfers so that I could eventually have enough money to join college, which will allow me to help provide for myself in the future. I have so far managed to save more than half of the amount that I need, so I'm closer than I imagined. This means that by the end of the year, I will have officially begun my masonry course. Furthermore, I will also use another part of the transfers to help pay for my sister's tuition, who happens to be in high school, because my mom cannot do it all by herself since my sister's full tuition is quite high. Lastly, I also intend to speak on poultry farming for commercial benefit before the end of the year, and at the moment I have begun building the shed."

"Prior to being introduced to Givedirectly I had prayed and hoped that if I ever got enough money I would renovate my house. The reason behind this was because at the moment my house was made from mud and I had wanted to make a more permanent one using bricks. Also my iron sheets were quite old and worn-out and occasionally during the rainy season the entire house would be left drenched due to all the holes on the roof. Therefore, my plan is to ensure I buy all the building equipment using the money that I received because I have been gradually stocking up bricks with the donations that have been sent so far. I will also ensure that I use the money to keep my children in school by settling their debts in tuition."

"I would love to start a business of selling vegetables here in Mariakani, where I have been employed as a cook at a food point. The goal is to set up a shed and acquire an initial stock of not less that $50 to run the business. To get there, I purpose to save at least $15 from each of the subsequent three transfers to start. In the long run, I long for the business to grow into a stable grocery shop."

"I want to see an improvement in my life by having a better house, making my farm and having more produce that i can sell and raise more money for my family."

"I invested some of the money on my farm so as to make it bigger as i have a child now and i am not working so i believe that once i grow my farm i will be able to sustain my kid spouse and i with that. I also spend the other portion of my transfer on buying a few clothing for myself."

"The house iam in now isn't big enough as my husband and i share a room with my children therefore, i am building a new house so as my children and i would have seperate rooms."

"After my husband drowned in 2015, I have been faced with a lot of challenges. Currently, I'm faced with the challenge of lack of food since I'm the only breadwinner. I live with my only son, Silas, whom we have been forced to go hungry because of lack of food. The casual work I do does is not enough for me to gather for both of us. It really saddens me that my son goes hungry sometimes because I can't afford to buy food. The only chicken I was depending on for eggs, which I would sell when it gets tough was killed by a snake. This has made us to go hungry since we don't have anything to sell."