"Since the demise of my husband 10 years ago, life has never been the same. He left me the burden of raising the children single-handedly yet they were still young. He used to do all manual work including casual labor which I was not used to. I am now getting old and feeble to do any manual work to fend for my children. The biggest hardship has been the lack of funds to cater to my family and meet their education expenses."

"Receiving this money will mean a lot to me. I am a widower and I have 4 children in school depending on me to pay their school fees. As a single parent all the responsibility lies on me. I depend on the harvest of French beans and hay grass which I sell to get an income and support the family, but that alone is not enough to provide all the basic needs for my children. The transfer will aid me in paying school fees for my 4 children in school as well as providing other basic needs."

"Despite being a casual laborer, my intention has always been to ensure my children get the best in their education and this means doing all means so that they are not befallen by the misfortune we parents have undergone in our childhood. To ensure this happens, I opted to agree with the school principal, to supply firewood at school and in return the earning clear my son's fee. I am so grateful to learn that soon, I will be able to settle any fee arrears with ease."

"I am charcoal vendor and my spouse is employed to look after cattle. I get very little money from selling charcoal and my spouse earns 35 USD in a month. With the tough economic times,this is very little and cannot satisfy all our needs. As a young mother of one ,settling into marriage requires a lot such as getting good shelter,investing and saving money for educating my children. This has been a hard to fulfil due to low income. This has therefore been the biggest hardship of my life."

"Financial constraints has been my biggest hardship all along. I have three children to feed and take care of their needs but with what I get as a motorcycle taxi rider is not enough to take care of all the needs. I get between 5-6 USD in a day. This job also comes with some risks. Three years ago I was involved in an accident when I was riding my motorcycle. It took me over 3 months to heal and continue working. My right arm has never been totally well since then."

"Seeing my children being sent home for school fees every now and then makes me a worried helpless mother, and this has been the biggest hardship I face in life. I have two children in the university and two in high school and all their approximate school fees required annually amounts to $350 yet agribusiness is all I depend on to ensure they get all their needs as well as pay their school fees. Poor climatic conditions in this region has made farming unreliable hence a great struggle on my side"

"With the second transfer I am I have started building the house which I did not have, i bought food due to this famine and I also bought clothes for my children."

"The biggest difference in my daily life is that I managed to build an extension of two rooms to my living house. It was not spacious enough and I had to extend two rooms to accommodate my children. I would not have managed to purchase the materials at my own cost had I not received the transfer. I am glad that through the transfers, I bought enough iron sheets and timber, cement and sand for this purpose I also managed to buy a barbed wire and fenced my compound for purposes of security."

"The biggest difference in my daily life is that I am now owning a dairy cow and two goats. This livestock is an asset to me which I can rely on in case of a financial need. Besides being an asset, I am expecting that they reproduce and increase in number and have many of them. I will sell the offspring to raise fees for my children who are still young. I will also be getting milk from the cow for my family's consumption and sell the surplus thus earning an income. I will no longer be buying milk from anyone."

"I received an Mpesa message and I was curious to know who might have sent me money that morning. I was not expecting to receive money from anyone. When I read the message, I was amused and excited when I realised I had received my first transfer from GiveDirectly. I thanked them for their kindness."