"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."

"The transfer has enabled me to buy more stock of medicines to my pharmacy which I am currently operating. This has brought a bigger difference from my daily sales since I managed to purchase different kinds of quality medicines. The profits that I used to get previously was not enough to purchase the different kinds of medicines, as compared to the financial support that I have received from GiveDirectly. I am now looking forward to getting higher returns from the additional stock."

"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 received a message notification early that morning on my phone. I went ahead to check it and to my surprise, the contents were a confirmation that I had received KES 55000 from GiveDirectly. For sure, none of my mornings had been brightened like this day before. I was overwhelmed with joy on receiving the money from GiveDirectly."

"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 ."

"My new goal is to finish my driving and catering course that I had left halfway due to a lack of money. I have been postponing doing exams for each of the two courses because of financial constraints. I am planning to ensure that I finish paying the fee arrear using the transfers no matter what comes my way."

"My life has changed in that I have greatly reduce my daily expenditures since I can save the money I would otherwise use in buying milk to cater for my households needs like buying daily meals with ease. This is because the dairy cow I bought with the first transfer has already reproduce hence on a daily basis I am able to get 3 litters of milk from it . On the other hand , restocking my small retail shop business which is our my livelihood has also increased my daily income and I have been able to save the part of the profits which I intend to use it as school fees next year when the schools reopen to pay school fees for my children ."