"I have a family of three and we are living in a one-room house with a grass roof. The house is not spacious and it leaks during rain seasons. The wind also affect the family thus I suffer flue every now and then. Lack of spacious and well-built house isn't he challenge I am currently facing in life. I work as a casual labour at the nearby quary earning approximately $100 per month which caters to food only. It is not sufficient to build a house for the family."

"My husband and I are casual workers. He works as a masonry at Mombasa earning approximately $200 per month though not all the time. I work at the nearby quarry earning approximately $30 per month. The family income is very low such that I find it hard to pay school fees for my children. I have five children where one is at Ngala girls secondary school and four are at Bale primary school. The one at secondary has a fee structure of $460 per year where as the four in primary have a fee structure of $3250 each per year. The daughter who is at secondary school has a fees balance of $180. This means that she will have a total balance of $640 when schools open on January 2023. The fees problem has affected her performance."

"The availability of foodstuffs that we purchased after receiving the first transfer is the most noticeable difference in my daily life. Even though we have nothing on our farms right now except mangoes and newly planted bananas, I am confident that the food we purchased will feed my family of seven for the next month until we receive the second transfer."

"I received a Mpesa message around 4 p.m. that I later realized came from GiveDirectly after reading it. I was not worried, but rather excited, when we were told that the sender's name would be Segovia. I was with my spouse, who was just as excited to confirm that our account had the balance indicated in the message. Because my husband is my trustee, he accompanied me the next day to a nearby shopping center, where we collected the funds for our first purchases of construction materials."

"So far, the investment of a portion of the first transfer on livestock has made the biggest difference in my daily life. Our region's dry weather does not allow for active subsistence farming throughout the year, so livestock farming is the best fit. The purchase of goats that feed on both grass and shrubs is a simple investment that I had hoped to begin, but a lack of funds has always held me back. I live on my grandparents' property, while another part of my family lives on my father's property. I am hoping to do a lot with the remaining subsequent transfers from GiveDirectly."

"Around 3:00 p.m., I was doing routine casual labor in a nearby shopping center in Marigat when I received a message notification from GiveDirectly. I knew it was from GiveDirectly after reading the message because I wasn't expecting any other money. Despite having read and heard other people discuss the same news, I was unable to open up to anyone, including my wife, on the same day. I wanted to pick it up with my wife on the third day, but she had errands to run. Before coming on in the evening, I proceeded to collect the entire amount and make the first purchases."

"Around 4:00 p.m., GiveDirectly sent me a Mpesa message notification, but when I tried to read it, I found it difficult to understand. I had to visit my neighbor because I was home alone at the time, and she informed me that I had received the first transfer from GiveDirectly. I was overjoyed to confirm that. After giving thanks to God, I had to adjust my plans before picking up the money from the local shopping center the next day."

"The biggest difference in life is that, currently, I am able to get food without much difficulty. Before, I was forced to stay without food for 2 days a week something that worsen my health problems. Furthermore, owning some livestock as an alternative source of livelihood is a great investment that would support me in the future."

"For quite some time, I had been taking risk of sleeping in a half-collapsed house. I took the risk since I had no alternative. During the rainy season, there was no difference between staying outside and being in that house; it was all the same. Upon getting the first transfer, the priority was the house. Therefore, I used $243 to put up a simple decent house that could comfortably accommodate me and my family. I am very humbled and happy for GiveDirectly because as we speak I am in the house you enabled me to build. Thereafter, I bought a bed and a mattress for $85 and $65 respectively. I did this because I had none at all and I used to sleep on some pieces of boxes. Since I depend on subsistence farming, I used $100 in tilling my piece of land and buying some seeds. Poverty had made me take some food items on credit so I paid $85 to a shopkeeper who used to give me some foodstuff. For the remaining little amount, I used it to buy some food for my family."

"The biggest difference in my life is that I am in a well roofted house not like before. This has restored the joy in my life since we will no longer spend sleepless nights due to the leaking roof. Moreover, I can provide for the basic needs of the family like food without any struggle and our kids no longer go to bed without food."