"The biggest hardship has been black of enough food for my family. This area is prone to drought and the little food we crow withers sometimes due to insufficient rainfall. Recently I lost my husband who was the provider. He used to do casual jobs so as to get money to feed our family. I am now the one to provide for them and I am getting old and sickly."

"I have for a long time been involved in extracting aloe vera juice that I sell to earn a living. To get $8 per week, I have to fill a 20 liters container, an income that is not enough to cater to my household's basic needs. My children have been sent out of school and since I lack money, they have to spend like a week before they go back to school once I sell the aloe vera extract. Receiving this money will be a store of wealth for me since I intend to spend $600 to buy 3 indigenous dairy cows that will help me to sell the milk when they calf. This will be my source of income and hence, reducing the stress of paying school fees. The remaining amount will help me to pay some fee arrears of $100 and also to sort other basic needs like food and nice beddings."

"My biggest hardship is a decent shelter for my household.With my family of 6, I have always been forced to fit into my deceased parents house. This is small bearing in mind that my sister lives with us.It rains in sometimes and I fear my children with get sick."

"The biggest hardship I have ever faced in my life is lack spacious house.I am a house wife and my husband rely on charcoal burning business which earns him very little at most Ksh2000 per month.Due to this, it has been difficult to save enough money to construct a big house.Sometimes when I host visitors I am forced to ask my neighbors to accommodate them which is embarrassing."

"I have been struggling with poverty life since I was born."

"My biggest hardship is when my house collapsed last year while we were sleeping . Fortunately no one was injured but I had to spend several days sleeping outside in the cold and during the day staying with my son in the schorching sun."

"The biggest hardship we face is insufficient capital. My husband works as a casual labourer in Nairobi and earns only KES 7,000 per month. Living standards in Nairobi are high and he has to pay rent, food for both houses as well as send some money for health expenses at home. Most months we live on credit and we don't have cash to save for future investments such as buying the dairy cow or building a bigger house"

"The biggest hardship I have faced in my life was loosing my husband and first born child within the same year. This was a big blow to my family given that all the breadwinners had died. Life became miserable such that I had to come back to my father's home."

"The biggest hardship in my life has been living under a pathetic house with a leaking roof and cracking walls. I always leave in fears because this house might collapse anytime. During the rainy seasons, the situation gets worse in a manner that we are forced to borrow some sleeping space for my children. This really pains me as a mother."

"I am a widow with a family of four children. Two of the children are currently in school. One is in class four and the other one is in class two. Raising these children has been a challenge since I have no source of a stable income. I depend on charcoal burning business which earns me less than $ 6 a week. What is even more worrying is that due to the high number of people doing this business, there are no trees as all of them have been cut down. This has made life more difficult for me and my children. I intend to use the first cash transfer from GiveDireclty to build a two bedroom house since the one I live in is in bad condition and is very small to accommodate me and my children. This will cost around $250. I will then use the remaining amount of money to clear school fees for my children. I will also use the second cash transfer to buy ten goats that will be a store of wealth for my children. This will cost me around $450."