"The biggest difference in my life is that my parent used to be rained on while in the house during the rainy season. This is because the roof of his house was in poor condition. Currently, he dwells in a comfortable house no matter the amount of rainfall that pours on the roof. This is after the renovation using the first transfer amount. This has brought happiness to the family because seeing him uncomfortable was the worst experience I wanted to witness."

"While my helper was at the trading center with my phone, she received a text message indicating that I had received my first transfer from Give Directly at around 3 pm. Upon reading the message, she ran back to the homestead and called out my name loudly, causing me to panic initially. However, she quickly shared the good news that I had received my first transfer and handed me the phone to verify the message for myself. I was astonished to see the substantial amount in my Mpesa balance and shared the news with my family, who were delighted. I took some time to let it sink in and confirm that it was indeed true. I waited until the next day before I withdrew the money."

"I received a message tone from my phone as I was tirelessly at work sowing some maize seeds on the farm. I was curious because it was the day I was anticipating getting some money from GiveDirectly, so I immediately left for home to ask someone to verify since I cannot read or write. My son was home when I got there. He verified that I had received the initial transfer of $550. As I realized I wouldn't have to live in humiliation for occupying a plot for which I had not paid in full, my emotions calmed down in joy and I felt at rest."

"I am a single mother of one and as such I faced a lot of challenges. Life is hard for me since I am left on my own to fend for my family. The father of my kid abandoned me when I became pregnant, apparently, he had a wife and he had never told me. It shook me to the core and gave me a wake-up call to work harder. I have many siblings and I felt like I was giving my parents a huge burden so I went to Nairobi to be a maid, I was being paid $50 a month. I made savings up to $300 which I used to purchase half an acre and put up a makeshift house. It has been a huge struggle, I still have a debt of $100 which has been hard to raise, the whole cost of the land was $400. The neighbour who sold me the land has been in my neck asking for the balance. I have neither had peace of mind nor sleep. He has on many occasions threatened to kick me out of the land until I cleared the remaining balance. I can now breathe a sigh of relief with the GiveDirectly transfers in the offing."

"We are a family of 4, every day is a struggle to make ends meet. It is not easy to fend for the family, we are inadequate in terms of food, and we are forced to buy the lack of funds notwithstanding. This way of life is unbearable, farming here is hard because of the vagaries of weather mostly unreliable rainfall, we depend on rain-fed agriculture yet we have had three failed rainy seasons and subsequently, we were not able to plant any food crops, it has caused us the kind of food insecurity that we are grappling at the moment."

"Two years now down the line since my husband passed away, life has never been fair to me. This is because as a mother, I am required to provide for my family of 8. This has not been easy since my small business of selling foodstuffs has not thrived well. In a month, I earn utmost $100. Although this can be a good amount, it can not fully cater to our needs because of the school fees burden. This amount is just a quarter of what we used to earn with my husband when we combined efforts. The headache is when I desperately watch my 4 school-going children at home due to lack of fees. As a mother, this has eaten up my mind and devoured my hope in life. The struggle to make ends meet to avoid the shame of my children dropping out of school has pushed me to a very tough end. Therefore, financial instability stands out as my biggest challenge."

"There are many challenges I'm facing in my life at the moment. The most pressing challenge is the lack of employment. My family and I were chased by bandits from our ancestral home 10 years ago and since then settling here has become a big challenge. I depend on menial work to provide for my family. Recently, I have found less work because of prolonged drought which has affected my family negatively. Most of the time I'm forced to sell my few goats to be able to provide for my family which posses a great challenge since I have only few goats."

"In 2021 I got my son Levis and in 2022 December I had to move to my husband's home as a second wife. Since then my life has not been the same since I had a place of my own. However, there are many challenges such as a lack of water because the river is far. I'm forced to purchase water at about $20 for six 20-liter Jerricans. This makes life very difficult since it's very expensive to purchase and transport water."

"I have been suffering from pressure and diabetes for five years now. This has really affected my health such that I cannot work anymore and depend on my son for survival. I have spent a lot of money for my medication and am now broke with no money even to buy food. That is the challenge I am passing through."

"My wife and I do casual jobs to earn a living, it is unreliable and seasonal. We earn an average of $12 a week which is only enough to buy food hence none is left for savings or paying school fees. This forces us to borrow loans from microfinance to get school fees and offsetting it has been a challenge. If we had a stable source of income we could be in a position to cater to all the basic needs of our family without straining."