"My first and secondborn daughters are in secondary school, while my four younger children are in primary school. Paying their school tuition all at once has been difficult, especially given our reliance on small-scale farming and, at times, casual labor that is scarce. I also have 20 goats that I sell on occasion when things get rough and to meet some of the household necessities. I spent $200 on school fees for my children who stayed in school and took their end-of-semester exams with this first transfer. I also upgraded my home's furnishings by replacing the cushions on two three-seater sofas and purchasing three plastic chairs for a total of $53. My house is currently looking better and can comfortably accommodate all eight members of my family, with extra space for visitors. In addition, I spent $25 on pairs of school shoes for my five school-aged children, $20 for food staples such as sugar, beans, and cooking oil, and the remaining amount on toiletries and transportation to and from the shopping center. I am thankful to GiveDircetly for the changes I have made in my family and plan to accomplish much more with the remaining transfers."

"I have five children, four of whom are in school right now. My youngest child, who is now 9 months old, has been suffering from heart problems, and I have spent days in the hospital seeking treatment for her. Recently, I have been visiting a referral hospital in Eldoret and buying expensive medicines from a nearby pharmacist, which has stretched my family's finances and prevented me from looking for additional casual jobs because I have been spending most of my time caring for my daughter. With casual labor being scarce and subsistence farming being unsustainable owing to severe weather conditions, I was desperate for any support and was relieved to receive it from GiveDirectly. I made a total payment of $120 on the same day of receipt, which allowed us to be freed from the hospital with some medication that has been helping my child recover since then. I also paid $40 to clear school arrears for my secondary school child, who had been at home for quite some time after being sent to collect the money, which I did not have at the time. I used the rest of the money to buy groceries for my family of seven."

"Lack of reliable source of income is the challenge I am currently facing in life. I am a single mother of five doing casual labor which gives me a very low income. The money caters mostly for food and this has affected my children education. They never attended school the whole of third term due to huge school fees balances."

"Housing is the challenge I am currently facing in life. I am a widower and I have been living alone for more than three years now. The structure I am living is a temporary one where it serves during dry seasons only but during rains season it leaks all through. I can not store any valuable item in the house during rain season."

"Housing is the challenge I am currently facing in life. I do casual jobs with my husband but due to our age we cannot work hard thus earning very little income thus being unable to build a house. I live in a structure that covered with grass roof and it leaks during rain season. My husband and I are also affected by winds during night time."

"A lack of employment and a constant source of money has been my biggest challenge now and even in the past. This has forced us to depend on farming which is sometimes unpredictable because of droughts and lack of water for irrigation. This has led us to do casual work to cater to our needs which is very challenging. This has made life very difficult for us since we sometimes don't have money to purchase basic needs such as food."

"We solely depend on farming to provide for our family. This has become a big challenge for us because of the lack of enough rain and also the lack of money to do irrigation. This is very challenging for us because we sometimes lack food and money. This makes life very hard."

"Life has been hard since we depend on casual jobs. During planting seasons we do farm jobs such as planting, weeding, or harvesting. One is paid $3 per day for casual jobs. This amount is not enough to sustain a family of 6. It means sometimes we miss meals. It stresses us because we'd want our family to have consistent meals. Mostly we don't have lunch."

"My biggest challenge currently is the lack of money. We depend solely on farming which fails us sometimes because of lack of rains. Despite the current rains, it has been 3 years since we had good rains which led to poor productivity of our farms. This has led to a lack of money for clothing, school fees, and other basic needs. Life has been very challenging lately since we can barely afford to provide for our family."

"In the coming year and beyond, my goal is to establish both a retail shop and a grocery store. I firmly believe that this venture has the potential to increase my income significantly, which, in turn, will help me meet my children's school fees expenses. To bring this dream to reality, my plan is to allocate the funds generated from my farming activities, a feat that wasn't feasible previously due to the immense burden of school fees. However, I am filled with hope and optimism that through hard work, I can make this goal a reality."