"The challenge I am facing now days is land slides and flash floods which destroy my gardens when I plant crops leaving us with no food to survive on. I am also finding hardships with starting up a business because I have no financial capital since all my agricultural projects were destroyed by landslides and flash floods. The other thing that disturbed my mind so much is staying in the area where I am always worried of my family being taken by landslides anytime. Indeed we don't comfortably sleep in the house because anytime, we can be swept away by this kind of disaster."

"Life is unbearable and we struggle a lot to make ends meet. My husband, Leonard, is in college in Nairobi and so I am left alone to fend for our family. We struggle to buy foodstuffs. Food insecurity has been a problem for some time now, we use to plant maize crops in the past and it used to do well but since the outbreak of the maize necrosis disease, its production has been a thing of the past. We are forced to buy from vendors at the nearby Kapkwen Market. Recently, the price of maize grain shot up to $1.80 per Kg which is costly and sometimes unaffordable. We live from hand to mouth and we are always worried about what to eat the next day. We live each day as it comes but with uncertainties."

"If only I have the option of choosing a career I would be so happy but I do not have this privilege. As uneducated as I am I can only vend charcoal, farm, or raise livestock, all of which I do. Every morning I wake up and think of the work I have to do just to put food on the table I get depressed. I know they say one should not eat unless they work, but honestly not as hard as I do. I long for the day I can put up a business and maybe for the first time breathe and relax as I run my business."

"I lived in a small house with my family of eight and we were not comfortable. It is taboo in our culture to live under one roof with grow up children. I had always wished to build a better and more spacious house but I did not have the money to purchase the building material. I rely on small-scale farming, I plant maize and beans but this is majorly for consumption. I used part of the first transfer to purchase some of the materials and when I received the second transfer I spent $200 on completing the construction of the new house. Currently, we are living comfortably unlike before. My children are so happy and grateful since they have their private rooms. I paid $200 on school fees for my two children in secondary school. They used to be sent home and this was affecting their performance in school. Currently, they are studying well without being disturbed like before. The rest of the money I spent on food and other household items that we were missing at that time."

"I spent $290 on paying my tuition fees. I am a student and the main challenge that I was facing at that time was paying the tuition fees. I depend on my husband to pay my school fees but due to other household expenses, he is not able to pay on time. I was so worried because I could not have sat for my exams were it not GiveDirecly sending us the transfer. Currently, I am almost completing my studies and I am so grateful for the support. I spent $45 on paying for my rent at school and purchasing food and other household items that I was missing. I had a debt of $100 that I had borrowed from a friend, and I was able to settle this on time. This gave me peace of mind since I did not know where to get the money to repay. The remaining amount of money I spent on the basic needs of my family. I am so happy because GiveDirectly has changed our living standards to be better than before."

"With my cash transfer I was able to purchase food..I bought 5 bags of maize at a total price of $60 , the food will be enough for the whole family since I already had a few bags. I also bought some building materials such as iron sheets as I plan on building a new house next year..I spent about $150 on the 15 iron sheets that I bought. Lastly, I bought 1 bag of fertilizer at a price of $60 which I plan on applying in my maize field inorder to increase growth."

"The biggest difference in my daily life since I started receiving these payments is that I have been able to start my dream business as I am able to make at least $8 a day which was so hard to find in the past.."

"I lost my daughter in the year 2000 and I had to take care of her two children. As we speak I have 1 grandchild who is a form four in Kimatisio Secondary School. He is going to sit for his final exam at the end of this year and right now he is at home because of unpaid school fees arrears. I owe the school $120 and only God knows where that money is going to come from. I am worried that he might not get the university entry grade because he has not prepared adequately. At 67 years I have no source of income but to look for well-wishers' help."

"In my opinion, GiveDirectly does very well by enrolling without any form of discrimination whatsoever. The officers sent by GiveDirectly are so keen to ensure that no one is left unattended to. They do this with a lot of care and precision and with top notch customer care skills. Giving cash as a form of aid is another good thing about GiveDirectly. It is worth noting that people have different needs and different priorities and seeing GiveDirectly respect this is just so good. The change that I now see in my village, the happiness in people's faces is just priceless. I do not find anything wrong with how they conduct their operations, everything is just perfect about them."

"In my opinion, GiveDirectly does very well by giving support in form of cash. Giving cash and giving people the freedom to choose how to spend that cash is just a score for GiveDirectly. In the last we have had organistions that comes with aid in material golda only. GiveDirectly recognizes and appreciates the fact that different people have different needs and they respect that by giving people money and the liberty to choose how to spend the money. On the other hand, I have a feeling that GiveDirectly should readjust their selection criteria a little bit so as to include the most vulnerable and all the deserving people in the society. We would not miss to see one or two households that were not enrolled while all the villagers thought they would be enrolled."