"My aim is to purchase more livestock, particularly goats, and then sell them so I can purchase dairy cows. My son, a construction worker, is my primary source of support. He has a very heavy responsibility to look after his family, which consists of his wife, seven kids, and me. I wish I could contribute to paying some of the family's expenses, but I am unable to do so due to my advanced age. By purchasing livestock, I hope to create a source of income that will enable me to contribute to my son's family's financial needs."

"Lack of financial stability is the main challenge that I face at the moment. I am a dairy farmer and just last month I lost 3 cows to East Coast Fever and this has been a setback because they were all producing 30 liters of milk per day. I have lost income since I used to earn $18 per day from the sale of milk. I have not recovered from the shock and I don't know if I will continue with this venture."

"Food insecurity is one major challenge that my family is facing. I am epileptic and this hinders me from working to my full potential in order to provide for my young family. I normally get at least one seizure per day and I always confine myself to my compound to make sure I am safe in case of an attack. This leaves my wife as the only breadwinner and more often than not she is overwhelmed. She works as a casual laborer, working in other people's farms, doing manual jobs like weeding, to put food on the table for the rest of us. The much that she can earn on a good day is $3. This is not enough to buy 3 meals for the day."

"My husband left me and is no longer taking care of us yet the children need to eat and go to school.Since June he has not provided anything for us. All he says on phone is he stopped working."

"It is 1 year now since I started my food kiosk but there have been so many financial challenges to operating it. My capital has ever been $15 and it has not increased yet, which means in a day, I only make $1 after paying my worker $1.5. Since my husband has other responsibilities, he has not gotten the opportunity to help me in this business and I find it hard to save and expand my job. Hence, the stress of operating a low-performing job is the biggest challenge that I am currently facing."

"It is slightly past 1 year now since I separated from my husband and this left me with the burden of taking care of my 8 children. Considering that my tailoring job has not been stable since I came back to my maternal home, I have faced a lot of challenges including the provision of my family's basic needs. What a life of worries as a mother! My children's education is what has been affected most since they have frequently been sent home due to the lack of fees. At home, we have been forfeiting meals, a situation that has affected our health status. Therefore, I consider financial instability as my biggest challenge."

"Lately, the cost of living has risen which has affected us a lot, especially the cost of food. We depend on casual jobs which have become hard to come by and so it is a tall order to put food on the table. We have resorted to food rationing where we skip lunch just to have supper so in a day we survive on one meal. Sometimes we feel so hungry but we have no otherwise but to withstand the situation. In the past, we used to buy 2 kg of maize grain at $0.7 but it has since tripled to $2.20 per 2 Kg which is expensive and at times unaffordable."

"Life is not easy, we are faced with a myriad of challenges that have derailed us from progressing and improving our standards of living. We made a deliberate resolution to educate our children to better themselves and to assist us in our old age when they get employed. We are people of little means, I am employed as a watchman in the nearby Kimatisio Catholic parish and earning a paltry $40 per month which is hardly enough to meet our needs. I have sold all the livestock to cater to the school fees of my children. Raising schools is a major challenge that we are faced with right now and it has made our lives extremely difficult."

"Givedirectly is doing very well and I hope they continue to do what they are doing. Helping people with direct cash is the best way to help improve people lives."

""Looking at my age right now and seeing myself living in this old house has been very disheartened. Since husband die, I been living here alone. Seeing some citizens rejoicing upon receiving their first transfer was very disappointing me. But when I received mine, wow. I didn't know how the pain got out of body. The happiness was too much that I forgot that I was old.""