"I lost my husband in the year 2003 while my children were in various schools forcing me to stand for them With both casual labor and subsistence farming I used to rely on them, paying fees of more than five children each term wasn't easy. Lack of finances is the biggest hardship I have faced in my life I remember the hard, low-paying casual jobs I did to meet the family needs was not easy."

"I primarily depend on livestock keeping to meet my family needs thus I always struggle to see that my farming improves. I am planning to spend KES30000 to buy a dairy cow to add to my herd since this is an added asset and when it calves down I will have more milk for both household consumption and sales to earn more income which will, in turn, help me educate my children. I wish to use another KES30000 to renovate my current house. I live in a semi-permanent house and its walls have started cutting off the making it look old uncomfortable to stay in. After renovating these walls I will be again be assured of my comfy and safe house for my family. In addition, I will use another KES28000 to pay my children's school fees. This will enable them to have a good time to study and I also enjoy humble minds as I look for money to settle next year's fee. I will use the remaining amount on farming to buy some farm inputs and household daily basic needs."

"The biggest hardship i have faced in my life is inadequate food for my family. We barely have enough food to take us throughout the year because we dont harvest much. The main reason why we dont harvest much is lack of money to buy fertilizer. We can not afford buying fertilizer for our garden as it is very expensive and in the end we harvest very little which do not last long enough"

""I have always burn coal and other hard labor (farming) to support my children in school. Schools often throw my children out because of unpaid fees. So when I receive this money, I will use it to support my children in school. I believe that education will guarantee a good future for them and help me in my old age"."

"My ambition is to be a business woman and own a shop within the village. I had started purchasing construction materials such as stones for a shop but the capital I had was not enough. I will use KES 40,000 to purchase construction materials and build the shop, KES 10,000 for goods such as sugar, rice and snacks to be sold in the shop.The remaining transfer will be used for my daughter's school fees who is to join college before the year ends."

"The main challenge is food access. It's very hard to provide for the family."

"The biggest challenge is hunger. My harvest was not enough because I didn't use fertilizer."

"The biggest hardship I have faced in my life is not being able to have enough money and being sick always but when I go to the hospital they find no problem with me. It is now that I feel better."

"I am so grateful for being considered in the program. I will use the money to renovate my house and buy some household items."

"The biggest hardship in my life has been when my son fell sick five years ago. At this time my husband was already late nine years ago. Being the sole provider, it is extremely hard to afford health care for him. I was forced to sell the properties I had to cater to the hospital bills. At the same time, I had other children in school who also needed other basic needs to be catered for. Since then it had been extremely hard to afford basic needs."