"-Before the transfer, I never had a modern house, I owned a small grass-thatched house which was leaking during the rainy season. I thank Give Directly for the transfers as I managed to build a three-bedroom modern house for kshs 50,000. Initially, I never had peace of mind as it was so tiresome moving some of my valuable items during the rainy season, my young boys too never had adequate space to spend their nights and this was so stressful as they could sleep in a neighbour's house. My peace of mind is finally restored since I built a house. Getting a balanced and regular meal had been the most difficult thing for my young family of three. I used the whole balance of kshs 5000 to stock food for an entire month. We are very grateful for the transfers."

"-I am a parent of five children. Two are in Secondary School, a boy and a girl, while the other is in college studying Information Technology in his first year. I used a total of kshs 20,000 to clear their school fees arrears that have accumulated for the past year. Before the transfers, I was living in a small grass-thatched house and it could not fit all my family members. The boys used to sleep in my neighbour's house and this was so inconvenient as they could go so early due to insecurity in my community as most homes do not have access to electricity. I used the remaining part of the transfers of kshs 30,000 to build a spacious decent house for my family. I am so grateful to GiveDirectly transfers."

"I'm a casual miner, this is the most tiresome job ever. I also wash clothes for people and sell charcoal. My husband has been jobless for the last three years hence I'm the breadwinner. We used to sleep on the floor at night and it would pain my ribs all night long hence causing us to wake up early even when we have nothing to do. So I spent $83 on a modern bed. Nowadays we sleep comfortably until when the sun rises, the bed is so comfortable that we do not experience that pain anymore. Previously, the whole roof of our house had leakages, it would worsen when it rained since the kitchen floor would be flooded with rain water. So I bought 27 iron sheets, (I can not remember the exact cost) and construction timber worth $65. I paid $270 for labour and constructed a 2 room house, I have also included a verandah and kitchen to the house. It is so comfortable and I'm contented Before I used to struggle paying school fees for my 3 children who are in primary school, they even had arrears of $50 which I also cleared with the transfer. I'm so grateful to Give Directly."

"When I got married to my husband a couple of years ago, I was hopeful that life would be smooth because he had just graduated with a computer science degree and we all thought that he would get a job soon. Up to date, we have two kids and nothing seems to be working in our favour. We have been relying on selling farm produce that we get to pay school fees and other basic needs. I spend $85 of my second transfer to buy two sacks of maize that lasted for three months, $200 to buy a dairy calf since we didn't have a dairy cow, $80 to buy bed for our two children who didn't have bed and the balance to buy seats and utensils."

"What GiveDirectly does well is transforming poor communities through giving people unconditional cash transfers and allow them to make choices on their own."

"Both my husband and I are peasant farmer and life has not been easy for us as we don't have a large piece of land that can give us a good harvest enough for our family. If we had a dairy cow, life would be much simpler as we would sell milk and earn some income but since we did not have the financial capability, receiving this money was a good opportunity for us own one. I spend $300 to buy a dairy cow, $120 to buy food and the balance to buy clothes for our children who had torn clothes. We are so grateful to GiveDirectly for making all this possible for us."

"In my own opinion, what GiveDirectly does well is doing follow up after every transfer, even though the transfers are unconditional, no one will waste the money in activities like alcohol drinking because they know they should be accountable on what the spend the money on."

"This year, I was planning to start vegetable farming. Accomplishing this means that I will be earning extra income that I will spend to pay school fees for my children as well as providing basic needs."

"My goal is to buy a sewing machine and a cow. I need a cow because it will keep my son busy when he comes home after school, he will be taking it to feed. We will also get milk from it since right now we do buy from neighbours and sometimes we lack the money to do so. About a sewing machine, I have a dream of acquiring tailoring skills so that I can be making nice clothes for people as they pay me. I'll not be fully depending on my husband for every financial need. I need $200 for a cow and $180 for the machine. I pray to God so that Give Directly can come back and add me more transfers as I do not have anywhere else to get money from."