"I spent part of the money I received from GiveDirectly on fencing my land to prevent neighbor's cows from destroying my crops. I also paid school fees for my child who is in primary school. I also invested some money in my fast food business. This business earns me an income to meet other basic household needs. Finally I bought food and clothes for my children. I am so happy because GiveDirectly has changed our living standard."

"I have a grocery business here at home and it does not work well due to high dependacy on it. My husband do casual jobs nearby town which earn an income of 200 Kenya Shillings a day. This is inadquate to meet our daily needs for our family of 5. Hence, I have never manage to save any money for livestock development project that I desired start for long."

"The biggest hardship I face in life is lack of support from my husband. As small business woman I get very little profit of less that 300 Kenya Shillings a day which is not sufficient to cater for the daily needs of my family. My husband works in Mombasa as a casual worker the little that he get serve only for his needs thus me and other family members who we depend on him suffer with hunger."

"I want to build a proper house for me and ny family. I have already bought Iroon sheets and have already moulded bricks for the project. I was Also sleeping on the floor, therefore I have bought a mattress to be sleeping comfortably."

"I was with my sister-in-law down at the river that morning when I received a message bearing the good news of my first transfer. I could not hide the excitement the moment I saw it and had to show everyone who was around to try and confirm whether it was really true. My sister-in-law had then received the same information on her phone. We were overjoyed and had to move faster towards home as I also needed my other household members to witness the same excitement. Many people we met on the way spoke the same language and showed the same excitement as they thanked God and GiveDirectly for reviving their hopes of making a better future for their families."

"Having a good breed of a cow in my field is so far the biggest difference in my daily life alongside other great projects I have managed to initiate. I had been buying milk for a long time now that was so expensive that I could not afford at all time. Currently, I am hopeful that soon I will be having enough milk both for household use and even surplus for sale."

"I spent 200 USD of my first transfer on clearing fees arrears for my two children who are in primary and secondary school respectively. This has been frustrating me for quite some time and I even had no idea where I would obtain the fees for the remaining two semesters. In addition to that, I decided to buy building materials and the labor costs at a total of 250 USD. I had intended to build a new house because the current one was small and in critical condition. Also, I am using the remaining cash in buying food and household item for the family."

"Lack of sustainable income is the biggest hardship that I have ever faced. I am an unskilled person and getting a job to sustain my family of 7 has been a great challenge to me. The only source of livelihood is charcoal vending a job that earns me $ 2 a day which I spend on food for my family."

"I seperated from my husband 15 years ago. I came back home to my parents with my 3 children and life since then has not been easy. I struggled a lot to start life a fresh as well as supporting my children financially. I depend on casual jobs and selling firewood but the returns and uncertainties that come with this jobs make me struggle a lot. Raising my children alone with no reliable source of income is what has been my biggest hardship."

"The biggest hardship is when I was newly married to my husband and I had a miscarriage 3 months after my first pregnancy.. I had a severely stomach ache for two weeks without any medical assistance and after that I got a miscarriage."