"My son, George, is currently in his second year at the university. Considering that am retired, I do receive enough from my retirement fund to cover the $330 fee amount, required per academic term. Besides, I have another son in grade seven who counts on me for provision. Particularly, I plan to continue supporting George’s education through cash transfers. I would be glad to see him graduate in two years' time courtesy of the transfers."

"Earlier this year, 2022. I planted maize and groundnuts on a quarter a acre piece of land. It's has been very dry this year, I lost all my crops. We currently buy 1kg of maize at $ 0.80, which is very expensive. The price is not dropping, could get worse. I depend on selling some of my goats to get money for sustainance. A goat goes for $30 now, which is low. I am worried of my food security since I now have fewer goats. The goats have also lost weight due to the drought."

"I am 74, I cannot do manual labour. This is due to my old age. It's hard for me to get a job to support my family. I can only do the simple tasks such as harvesting millet or planting. This is to just place the seeds correctly. From this I get paid $2. During dry seasons like this, one can hardly get a casual job. It's really hard for me to get food, this saddens me. When it's dry, I can only depend on burning charcoal. If I manage to get one bag of charcoal, I can sell it for $5. This can support us for a week."

"It's quite challenging to fully dependent on jobs that are extremely physical like conducting open cast mining with just crude tools. This is what I have to do every day to be able to earn $5 a day ever since my husband's demise. It happened a year ago leaving me with three children who're still schooling at primary level costing a total of $45 each academic term to settle their school fees. With the much I get from my job at the manganese mines in the next village owned by Chinese, I can only comfortably afford them food but definitely not education."

"I used to cut trees to make firewood for sale but had to stop during my last pregnancy because I had a lot of related complications. That was two years ago and since then, I haven't had any source of income other than the $5 a week I do receive from my husband who works in Garissa as motorcycle taxi rider. This has a lot of inconveniences which is already reflecting negatively on the health of my children as they all look mulnaurished. Depending solely on my husband's support, I haven't been able to offer them more than a meal per day."

"I'm an old woman without any reliable source of income, but with a ton load of responsibilities. Out of five, three of my children are still fully under my care with one attending a local day secondary school and the other two are waiting to join colleges. My husband works as a security guard in Malindi town where he lives with his other wife and only sending me $30 monthly to take care of the family. This is hardly enough and most of the time, I have been forced to also make and sell firewood to top it up. The firewood business can fetches a maximum of $5 per week. I still end up spending nearly the whole amount on food and basic family supplies."

"I have been suffering from pains in my feet. This is my current challenge because I can't work and provide for my family. I'm unable to stand for long and therefore I cannot provide for my family. This has made me stay at home and depend on my husband who is also old and cannot work. We have grandchildren and we depend on livestock and our small farm to provide for them. I'm sad because I can't work because of this illness."

"I want to build a new house with my most recent cash transfer because the one i am in now is old and it leaks."

"For the longest time now, I have been saving a small portion of my transfers so that I could eventually have enough money to join college, which will allow me to help provide for myself in the future. I have so far managed to save more than half of the amount that I need, so I'm closer than I imagined. This means that by the end of the year, I will have officially begun my masonry course. Furthermore, I will also use another part of the transfers to help pay for my sister's tuition, who happens to be in high school, because my mom cannot do it all by herself since my sister's full tuition is quite high. Lastly, I also intend to speak on poultry farming for commercial benefit before the end of the year, and at the moment I have begun building the shed."

"Prior to being introduced to Givedirectly I had prayed and hoped that if I ever got enough money I would renovate my house. The reason behind this was because at the moment my house was made from mud and I had wanted to make a more permanent one using bricks. Also my iron sheets were quite old and worn-out and occasionally during the rainy season the entire house would be left drenched due to all the holes on the roof. Therefore, my plan is to ensure I buy all the building equipment using the money that I received because I have been gradually stocking up bricks with the donations that have been sent so far. I will also ensure that I use the money to keep my children in school by settling their debts in tuition."