"In six months’ time, I expect to have completed building the house which is already mentioned above. I also hope to have fully furnished it with seats and tables. The comfortability that we are currently missing in our current house will be found in the new house. This will also give me the confidence to host guest every time they wish to come around. And for that reason, the shame of not having a good house will not be there anymore."

"In six months’ time, I expect to have begun harvesting passion fruits farming. This means that I will be earning income from the sale of these commodities and therefore my family’s livelihood will be good."

"Receiving this money means purchasing a pair of oxen. This is the project that I have desired to achieve for a very long time. My aim is to scale up farming and curb food insecurity in my family. Currently I farm only 2 acres of land because I do not have enough money to hire oxen. Therefore I use my manpower which is less productive and cumbersome too. In addition to this, I will complete my house which is still under construction. "

"Currently, I am a housewife and my only hope is on my husband who is a charcoal burner. His work is very tedious and its income is rarely consistent. This forced me to opt a side hustle job of selling firewood during market days and a batch of firewood usually goes at $15. Our combined income still cannot fully support our basic needs and my worry was that my hope of educating my children was no more until when I heard about GiveDirectly unconditional cash transfers. Therefore, I consider lack of a reliable source of income as my biggest hardship."

"Due to old age and because I live alone, fetching water has been quite a hustle. Therefore, I plan to spend 35000 shillings on a 5000 litres water tank for storage. Secondly, I will repair the walls and floor of my house at a cost of 40000 to make it more durable and strong in harsh weather. The balance will go into my savings account for future needs such as medical care etc. "

"Imagine at the age of 65 years and I am still active in aloe vera extraction and charcoal burning. It is a very difficult life for me but because I have no one to depend on, these activities remain to be my hope for living. Despite these activities being tiresome and time-consuming, I usually make 20 liters of aloe vera juice which I sell at $17 and this means spending the whole month. On the other hand, the charcoal work drains much of my energy yet, it earns me very little, normally ksh1000 per 2 sacks which also take me a month to make. Therefore, I consider the lack of a reliable source of income as the biggest hardship in my life."

"My biggest hardship is lack of finances to meet my family's expenses such as food and education. 2 dollars a day for food and other needs for 10 people is quite a struggle. We are often forced to skip a meal or two and my kids are sent home frequently due to fee balances of almost 7000 shillings."

"My desire is to live in a more decent house. I plan to spend my first transfer to buy building materials and pay labour charges for a new house because the current one has been destroyed by the recent heavy rains. The second transfer will be invested in livestock specifically goats for their drought resistant nature and use the remaining amount to purchase food. "

"In six months’ time, I expect to have begun a shop business. I hope that the proceeds that I get from this business will be a boost to my family in terms of basic needs provision, school fee payment and general wellbeing of the members."

"I spent part of my transfer to boost my business. I have a shop which I worked so hard to establish. I could save the little amount that I got from menial jobs in the merry-go-round and finally brought this dream to a reality. I have been running it for a year now. I would not want it to collapse and this is the solemn reason why I used a large portion of it to boost it. I finally kept the remaining amount as savings."