"I quickly contributed to a chama that I am a part of and whose payout time had come. I then progressed to repairing the roof that has been in tatters for the past year and a half. I then prioritised stocking up on food and the likes for me and my three kids. The GiveDirectly transfers came when needed most. It had been rough, with my wife living in Kilifi where she's a teacher, with our third born and only both coming to see us over the weekend. I work as a tout at Ganze Centre, operating during the day shift. My wife brings home $120 a month teaching at Mindset Academy, while I make $10 a day. With the usual recurring bills, $15 a month for my first born tuition and $ 5 for the second born , both of whom go to Ganze Primary, my wife's expenses in Kilifi, not to mention school fees for the 3rd born who studies where the mom teaches, we are barely left with enough to save. The funds from GiveDirectly allowed us to do things that would have taken us decades if not years to achieve on our own"

"I get excited at the possibility of my kids one day wearing nice clothes. I would like to help them get as far as possible in their education, so they can in future get good jobs, wear nice clothes and generally love a life better than we as parents had."

"I would love to get rid of the growth in my stomach. Not only would that alleviate the pain, but also allow me to regain my strength, and with it my business. It would then allow me to be able to provide for my family and in future, they can have better lives through education."

"I am grateful to GiveDirectly for providing us with an equal amount of transfers and the freedom to spend it as we saw fit in our households. Unlike material goods, monetary assistance allowed us to make informed spending decisions that had a direct impact on our daily lives. I have nothing to complain about after the entire process because GiveDirectly kept all of its promises."

"With the second transfer, I spent $330 to purchase two cows that have been producing milk and thus saved me from buying milk daily. The excess milk I sell to my neighbors and use the money to buy food and other household stuff for daily use. Five out of my nine children who are in school had fees arrears of $60 and I had to clear it for them to remain in school. Due to the harsh drought experienced in the country, food was a major problem. Sometimes we had to sleep on empty stomachs. I used $40 of the remaining cash to buy new clothes for my children and $100 in buying food for my family which included 1 sack of maize, rice, corn flour, and salad oil."

"Being the eldest child in my family, I have been responsible for taking care of my younger siblings. Seeing them through their education and providing for their basic needs as well as for my elderly parents. I have been doing menial jobs to at least be able to put food on the table. One of my younger siblings, the only one schooling had been sent home for fee balance. On receiving the second transfer, I was able to take him back to school by paying the $360 debt. My house needed some minor repairs, thus I bought some iron sheets for $150 to facilitate that. With the remaining $20 I bought new furniture for my house since the ones we had were in a bad state."

"Even though we sometimes struggle to pay school fees for my three children, I have set a new goal of opening a new business selling vegetables. This will help substitute my husband’s income and I can be chipping in to pay some recurring bills."

"I intend to acquire a piece of land where I can build a big house to shelter my family. The current one is quite small and won’t be able to accommodate my growing family. I also hope to venture into livestock farming and thus I have plans of adding some more livestock to the existing flock."

"Just before receiving the second transfer, all my five children had been sent home due to school fees arrears which had accumulated to huge amounts. Seeing them at home while their mates were at school was stressful to me as a parent. I had tried all means possible to get money to take them back to school, but it was all in vain. Immediately after I received the second transfer, I went to their respective schools and cleared the debts. I spent $400 for two who are in secondary school and $70 for three in primary school. With the remaining $80, I purchased foodstuff for the household since we had nothing left in the house to feed on."

"I appreciate every piece of advice I got during enrollment, and even the freedom of spending to meet my needs was a good gesture. I have nothing bad about the whole process and everyone in the village is still praising GiveDirectly for the generous support they gave us. Long live GiveDirectly."