"Living in an iron roofed house has never been in my thoughts due to the financial instability that I have always faced in my life. My work as a charcoal burner earns me utmost $20 per 4 sacks which I have to prepare them in two weeks. In some cases, we have skipped meals and the need to save for house construction is a no more plan. Therefore, lack of a reliable source of income is my biggest hardship."

"My efforts to educate my children to senior schools got halted immediately my husband died in 2013 and I hardly thought of advancing their studies until when I heard about the arrival of Givedirectly to our village. With the renewal of my ambition to educate my children, I am planing to spend $300 on shopping and paying for the start fee of my son who is about to join secondary school come January 2020. On the other hand, I intend to spend an extra $300 on buying goats that will multiply with time and help me to cater for the future school expenses. This will ensure me of achieving my ambition and hence, a better future for my children."

"Life has never been favourable to me since the death of my husband 3 years ago. Since I had depended on him for my basic needs provision, his loss gave me a panic since I knew that I would assume his role of providing for the family. Since then, I decided to be a charcoal burner but this work is energy draining and its income cannot fully support my basic needs. Therefore, I consider financial instability being my biggest hardship."

"Three of my children are in secondary school. Being a casual groundsman in a local secondary school, I have never held my payslip as all my dues are deducted every month to cater for my children's fees. It is still not enough so my wife has to find casual jobs in the village like wedding maize to supplement my efforts. This is still not enough thus my children are often sent home due to pending arrears. My biggest worry is that my children risk dropping out of school. This is the biggest hardship I've faced in my life. "

"My children are still very young and as such milk is a requirement for their nourishment.Since I do not have a cow to provide this,I have been depending on my parents for a little milk every day.This is hardly enough and I cannot afford any extra money to buy more.When I heard about this money from GiveDirectly I thought that this is an opportunity to buy a cow not only for my children's sake but so that I can also get an income through the milk.I also intend to buy some foodstuff since I was given 0.2 acres of land by my parents to build my small house and till and this is insufficient to provide enough food.With what remains,I will build another house for my family"

"My life is different from how it was in that, I have managed to buy a lot of things that I used to admire. I managed to buy items such as television and a music system. Today, my children enjoy entertaining programs at the comfort of our house rather than watching at the neighbor's house. It feels nice to know that they are no longer a bother at other people's houses."

"My mornings have always been one of the best part of my days. I always begin my day by giving thanks to God and always hopeful for better accomplishments. However, this day was a different one because my day began with good news. I got a message notification around 6 am, from GiveDirectly informing me that I had received KES 55000 from them. I could not contain the joy. I remember calling them back thanking them for the assistance they had sent me. They finally gave me the means to achieve the goals that could take me years before achieving half of them"

"Before GD came for enrollment, My souse operated tuktuk business for one of his neighbor's. The main challenge was when there was little work he would end up not getting anything after giving his my employer the daily amount he signed to issue . That means he had to do extra hours in order to provide for us since he is the bread winner . Therefore ,he always had no time to bond with my children since he would go to work very early when they were asleep and at times came back in the evening when they had retired to bed. Owning our tuktuk has enabled him to have enough time with the children . At the same time this business has also increased our daily income . I am hopeful the with the interests he make he would be able to save and pay the loan that has remained since we bought the tuktuk on credit after depositing the first installment with GiveDirectly's transfers ."

"I majorly depend on subsistence farming to support my family. My desire had always been to maintain and improve my farming to enable me to sustain my family. When I received my first transfer, I spend most of it in farming. I took part of it to buy livestock. I bought a cow and two goats that I am happy with since these are my added assets and I have milk for both household consumption and sales from the cow. I believe these will grow to a bigger herd that I will always lean for my family's needs. Having this livestock assures me that I will be able to give my children a better education and maintain other household needs through sales of their offsprings and daily milk sales thus I see them as the biggest difference in my daily life."

"Before enrollment , my family and I were living in a single room house that serve as bedroom, sitting room and kitchen. It was also small in size which made me feel so uncomfortable and embarrassed moreso when visitors came. Today , I am happy and glad that I have extended my house and its spacious enough with enough rooms . Therefore, my children have a room to study and sleep comfortably since they can afford to have their own privacy . At the same time they have two pair of school uniform which makes them neat and presentable in school unlike before when they only had one pair ."