"It was around 4 am in the morning when I heard a message on my phone. This was unusual because I had never received a message that early ever since I started using a phone. The vibration sound had woken me up and I decided to read the message. When I realized that it was from GiveDirectly, I was so happy and the first person that I told was my husband who was awake bu then. We were overjoyed to the extent that we did not go back to sleep. We spent the rest of the early part of the morning planing on how best we can use the money till day break."

"In the year 2000, I lost my job as a veterinary officer working with the Kenyan Government. It is also around the same time that my wife abandoned our marriage due to the financial challenges we were going through at the time. With no other option at the moment, I resolved to move back to the village where I practise farming and offer advice to livestock owners so I can earn some income. Life in the village has been tough with persistent water shortage due to low and unreliable rainfall resulting in poor yields. It is my sister who always comes to my aid by offering me food and other basic needs such as the house she recently built for me after many nights in the cold when the old one collapsed. "

"Though my husband is a teacher with a relatively good salary, he has too many responsibilities in the family. His mother and siblings all look up to him for financial assistance such as for food, education, medication etc since they are not employed and only rely on casual jobs for survival. He is also servicing a loan he took to build our current home that cost him almost 600,000 shillings. With all this on his back, he could not afford to pay my college fees thus my studies had to take an abrupt halt. However, with Give Directly transfers, my dream of becoming a teacher will surely become a reality."

"Receiving this money means a debt free life for me and my family. Due to unemployment, I have been struggling with paying school fees for my children thus accumulating arrears up to a total of 46,000 shillings. With my transfers, I plan to clear this debt so that my daughter can get her secondary school certificates and be able to proceed to college. The remaining amount will go to house repairs and purchase of indigenous goats that will be of great assistance in future financial needs."

"Owning the three cows has made my life to be totally different. Since I am illiterate, I have been having a dream of seeing my children going to school and acquire what I did not get.I now have hopes of realizing this dream since I now own the cows. I am sure by the time my children will be joining the school, the cows will have increased in number. I will sell some and pay school fees for my children. This will guarantee them a brighter compared to mine since I never went to school. Currently, I am getting milk for free and selling a few liters to my neighbors. This has boosted me financially considering we are both jobless."

"When I woke up that day, I found a message on my phone. I was almost sure that it was a message from the mobile service providers reminding me to pay my loan but when I read the message in details, I realized that it was from GiveDirectly informing me that they had sent the first transfers. I was very happy having received good news in the morning. I knew that I will be able to settle the loan and achieve my other goals easily."

"Maize farming is a major dependent venture for most people in my community. When the yield declines due to drought and soil borne diseases, malnutrition becomes rife and children drop out of school die to lack on income. Immunity become weak thanks to starvation. This perennial problem has made life unbearable and this is the biggest problem I've faced in my life. "

"I expect my life to change in the next six months in that my family will have enough food. I want to focus on my farm by making sure I adhere to the rotational method of farming. I have a list of food I want to plant on my farm for the whole year. I thank this organization for empowering me financially. I could not have achieved this dream without their help."

"My life will have changed in the next six months in that I will have started a dairy farming project. I am planning to use the savings I will be given in our table banking group to achieve this. Owning a dairy cow will save my mother the cost of buying milk daily. Also, my poultry keeping project will be running well and I will be investing the money derived from this project."

"The biggest hardship that I am faced with is inadequacy of farm land. A bigger portion of land was leased out and now I am left with a very small portion which is not enough for my household to cultivate as expected. I do casual labour so as to earn a living. "