"I am living with my husband only. My children left for Mombasa and never come home. I do subsistence family and my husband is old he does not do any work now. We have had a drought in our village for the past three years. This has affected farming and caused famine. I rely on neighbors to feed my aged husband. Lack of food is the challenge I am facing now."

"I am a housewife who depends on subsistence farming and my husband is just a casual worker. It is three years now without rain in our village. This has caused famine in the community. My husband earns approximately $ 50 per month from his work. This is little for the family expenses and mostly it caters for food only. Children have not been going to school always due to the lack of fees. Lack of a reliable source of income is the current challenge I am currently facing."

"I have accumulated so many debts that sometimes I think to myself and wonder how I am surviving. I have five children in school, I owe two different schools $320 and $120. I also belong to a women's group where I also took a loan of $180 to settle some school fees arrears. I am in so much debt that I have become the talk of the village and it is affecting my mental state."

"The scarcity of food is my major challenge. The drought is affecting everyone but I think some people are receiving the heat more than others. As we talk, I have not eaten anything for the past two days, today I am hopeful I might because one organization is in the village handing out food. How I wish that the heavens would open up and we would receive rain."

"Givedirectly is empowering us financially and making us self dependent"

"At the end of this year i want to build my own house in this town and established my personal business that will keep I'm my family's financially ."

""Since I received this money from your organization, GiveDirectly, it has reduced my stress of thinking on how to engage in activities that can provide me the support to build a house and cater to my family needs especially providing their daily needs. To frank, it was so pathetic and a complete shame on my part to lack the financial ability as a man to provide those essential needs like shelter, feeding and clothing for my family. Many times, we managed to cover up our inabilities to our family mainly for the provision of their daily meals. Right now, I can now boast of the ability to provide the daily needs of my household since receiving this transfer"."

"I spent the whole of my second transfer on buying building materials such as iron sheets, nails, timber, and all the labour costs. I purchased all these to construct a new house which will as well serve as my business premise. Initially, I rented from a friend and it was too costly. At times I would spend all the little profit that I earned from my retail shop business to clear the house rent. This made me not save even a coin and I could barely sustain all my family's needs. Also, I couldn't even host a visitor because of the size of the house. It has been so tough all along and I never imagined that all these problems can seize this soon. I am now living peacefully with my family of three without any hiccups like before. Also, I no longer pay rent like before, and whatever I earn is all mine. I can now comfortably pay all my bills on time and well as fend for my family's basic needs without struggling."

"I spent my most recent transfer to pay my children's school fees and bought their school materials. I am keeping the balance so that when the next transfer comes, I can renovate my house."

"GivingDirectly succeeded in improving our lives. Given that some of us hadn't handled more than $100 at once since birth, the police who visited our hamlet educated and informed us on how to use the money. They did not separate us either; they treated us fairly and equitably. I would like to encourage them to continue the good work because I do not see anything that needs to change."