"Getting enough food to feed for my family of two children has been a challenge I have always overcome through a collaborative effort since I began receiving transfers from GiveDirectly. I spent KES 4000 on a sack of dry maize grains, which will feed my family for more than a month. My two children also needed new clothes, so I had to spend KES 3000 to keep the promise I made to them at the start of the project. They were delighted to receive a new pair each and thanked GiveDirectly for the generous support. I also finished paying for a piece of land with KES 30000 which I had bought with my first transfer but I wasn't able to clear the whole amount. Since I ran a small business of selling vegetables and other household stuff, I added some more stock to it of KES 10000."

"Earlier on before receiving these transfers, I had began digging a borehole but I wasn't able to have it completed yet due to lack of funds. Now that I am done with building the house and setting up my business, I would want to keep saving and have that project completed. This will ensure that I continue with my farming uninterrupted even when the rains are gone and also help the community by selling them water."

"Our dependency on both livestock and subsistence farming has also been a source of income as well has always pushed us to heavily invest in since it's the only art that we have mastered the steps and seasons to labor with. The second transfer I received was not an exception when I spent KES 40000 on bringing in a dairy cow that has proven its worth in the past three months of plentiful production of milk both for the household use and also surplus to sale with the products from the preexisting cows. I am glad that I have so far registered an increased daily income since I am a widow. I used the remaining amount on obtaining new pairs of school uniforms for my four kids and beddings to replace the tattered ones we had been using for the past couple of years. I am glad that we are enjoying warm bedding in this cold season that I am certain has kept my children safe from the cold. I also bought foodstuffs for the family."

"The freedom to choose how to spend the money we received from GiveDirectly was the best as every household in the village had varied needs that they ought to have handled their way. I am grateful for this well-thought idea that favored every person who received the money. No one complained then and even at the moment, we are still thankful for everything."

"I spent the first transfer of kes. 55000 in finishing building my house by buying three doors, six pieces of iron sheets, paying a constructor to fix the doors and roof, buying food, and two goats who have currently managed to bear and give birth to two kids. I spent the second transfer treating my mother who had a liver problem. She used to cough and had difficulty breathing. Her liver had swollen and she had to undergo an operation. By bad luck, she died and the same transfers helped in settling her burial expenses like buying a coffin. I am not able to bear a child yet due to the complications I have in my stomach. I am a maize farmer and my husband went to seek a job in Gikambala. Thank you so much GiveDirectly for putting a smile on my face."

"Before the entry of GiveDirectly I had planned to build a new house, but because of my financial condition I couldn't build a house. I have a very large family and my parents house can't contain everyone, more besides I am a man of my own with a family. This is a dream come true for me, GiveDirectly has given me a new beginning."

"Like I mentioned earlier on, my main source of income and sustainability is local beer selling at a small scale of course. I sell what we call "kachasu" to the locals here. Unfortunately, I have been forced to close my business due to the high cost of the needed materials for production, specifically sugar. It has been 3 months now since my closure. I was unable to afford a packet of sugar at $1.8. Due to this pause in my business I am currently unable to afford food, since I rely on buying, thus $3 a bucket. Additionally, as you can see my kitchen is grass thatched and I also have to buy that grass. Now, the rainy season is here and the kitchen roof needs repairing but I have no idea how I am to achieve that since I have no money. This worries me day in day out for I fear my kitchen might collapse with the rains."

"At present we only have two hurdles that distress us as a household. The first one being poor housing, thus, leaking roof in particular. Whenever it rains our roof leaks and we are stranded because we have nowhere else to seek shelter when this happens. This has been our challenge for years and as if this not enough, to exacerbate the situation we are currently facing a hunger crisis in this family. With the erratic rains, that we got in these parts last farming season, we only managed to harvest 3 bags of maize for food from our 1 acre farm land where we normally get 20 bags from on a good year. These 3 bags of maize sustained the 7 of us from April to June and since then we've had to depend on pieceworks for our daily sustainance."