"LANDSLIDES THAT CARRY AWAY OUR CROPS, GARDENS HAS RESULTED INTO POVERTY AND FAMINE. THIS HAS FORCED US INTO GETTING LOANS WITH HIGH INTERESTS WHICH HAS PUT OUR LIVES IN MISERY DUE TO DEBTS."

"The challange that am currently facing is poverty not being able to pay fees for school going children and also feeding is not all that good due to poor yields of crops and also most times our gardens are swept away by floods"

"Agriculture is the mainstay in my area. We often rely on land and livestock as primary assets for livelihood. Lately, with the harsh weather, it is hard to rely on farming. Currently, the weather has changed and my main goal is to have a piece of land and practice farming and keep goats and cows. My employer has been struggling to pay my weekly wages and I would like to employ myself soon."

"GiveDirectly has done well by providing us with funds. I am advantaged because before the funds came in time for me to lease a piece of land and took advantage of the rains; I am grateful they visited our area, and with the lump sum funds, I have been able to attain my long-term goals in a short time. I admire the work that GiveDirectly has done for many villages and I have no criticism about the program."

"It has been quite tough, especially with the cost of living rising and the unemployment situation. The biggest difference in my daily life is having our piece of land where we can plant what we want before I would survive on leasing land and planting only maize and without the freedom of planting a variety of farm produce which would limit my harvest. Currently have planted quite a variety, including vegetables. I am content that I bought a bed and separated my daughter, who is almost at the adolescent stage, from sharing a bed with his brother, who is still young. I am also encouraged that after the long wait; I have my piece of land that my children can inherit when they are old enough."

"After the time started the livestock investment, I have been getting the morale of boosting it because it gives me hope seeing how fast they increase. This is an assurance that I will not be straining to provide for my family since goats have ready markets. Based on that, I aim to add more goats if I get some money."

"In my opinion, what GiveDirectly does well in this program is that we receive the transfers in lumpsum amounts. This helps in planning as one is in a position to do something huge as compared to when the transfers are given in small instalments. Another thing that GiveDirectly does well is that the unlearned recipients are taught how to use mpesa. This has reduced the number of theft cases in the community as most of us managed to change our pins to a more secure code. To avoid household conflict, what needs to be done differently is enrolling all the individuals in the household. During enrollment, those individuals who did not have responsibilities by then were left out of the program yet these are the same people who steal from their old and vulnerable parents. Another thing that needs to be done differently is enrolling all the communities in a specific village for uniformity purposes and this will prevent too many complaints coming from the communities that are left out during the registration to the programs"

"Ever since my husband passed on in 2014, life has not been easy raising my five children alone. I have been exploiting all the opportunities available to make income from making bricks, to working as a casual in construction sites and tea plantations. Although my three children are now married, they are not financially stable to support me pay school fees for their siblings who are in high school and I have to toil all by myself. With my recent transfers, I was able to buy a dairy cow worth $270, pay school fees worth $120 for my children and spend the balance to buy food for my family. Hopefully, in two to three years time, I will selling milk and earn some income. I am so grateful to GiveDirectly for the financial support."

"My goal is to go to China and get clothes to then come and resell locally. My demographic would be just about all sexes and ages. It would be a business me and my wife could run together. Hopefully with that It would enable us to achieve my long awaited dream of bettering my children's lives and offering them opportunities that we didn't have in life."

"The fact that their funds come with no strings attached is to me the most amazing part of GiveDirectly. They transform lives, while asking for nothing in return, yet making dreams a reality for recipients. All I would ask is that they continue with their good work and consider adding more transfers to past recipients, at a later date."