"It was around 10.00 am in the morning as I was relaxing when my son came to me and inquired if I had received the money promised to us by GiveDirectly since most people in the village had gotten theirs. I then requested him to check it for me since I did not know how to. After confirming that I had also received, I was so happy and I immediately started singing praising God for His blessings unto my family and the entire village since I knew that its through this money that my life was going to change."

"I was preparing breakfast when my husband gave me my phone claiming that I had some unread messages. Upon checking them I realized that one of the messages indicated that I had received some money from GiveDirectly. At that instant, I became so happy and I started singing happily until my husband came back to check what was happening to me. I then informed him that we had received the money GiveDirectly had promised us. We then met as a whole family in our living room to thank God for His blessings which He had showered unto us on that day."

"School fees have been the biggest burden in my marriage life. I do not have a stable source of income just like my husband. The little income we get from our farm by selling our produce has never been sufficient for our daily needs. So many times we had to take part of our harvest to school because we were not able to raise money to pay school fees. This is the reason my children do not even have good school uniforms. With the transfers, I have been able to reduce the balance in school and I know by the end of this year, I will have cleared the whole balance. Since I started receiving the transfers, I have been feeling more independent than before. I do not go borrowing every time I have a problem and I don't get support on everything from my husband. Since I did not have any source of income, I literally had to depend on my husband which is not the case now. I can plan and budget well with my money. This is a great improvement in my life."

"I would like to lease in a piece of land since I do not enough farming land. My husband died when we did not have enough land even for children to put up their houses. If I lease in a piece of land, cultivate it and get a good harvest, I can be able to sell most of the harvest to help buy another piece of land. This is my biggest goal this year."

"Since I started receiving these transfers, life has been a bit easy on me. I do not struggle as I used to before the transfers. Apart from having my own cow, we have never gone without food. Casual work was our main source of income yet it was not consistent and with low income. Due to many family financial demands, at times we would lack food just to fulfil other needs but since I started receiving the transfers, I have been able to budget well with it. Thirdly, I feel proud because my children are rarely sent home for school fees. In the past, they never missed on those who are being sent home for school fees. This is because casual work could not provide enough to meet all my family demands hence I would miss paying fees in time. In as much as I still have some balance in school, it is not much for them to be sent home. This really makes me happy and thanks to GD."

"Before I received the transfer from Givedirectly, we could sometimes go to bed with very little in our stomachs and our children could complain alot. Right now we have a means to buy enough food for them. I am also a proud owner of some livestiock(chicken) and hope to improve in the near future."

"In the next six months, I would still want to buy more goats. I have always believed this is the best form of investment in my area. This is because every now and again, their value increases hence I would want to buy more. I believe with this, my life will finally change for the better and I would be independent at the time when the transfer will be stopped."

"It has always been my prayer to build a house back at home since I used to sleep at my inlaws house whenever I visited. I have not been comfortable with it and this has always made me uncomfortable visiting home. When I received my first transfers, I used part of it in buying iron sheets which I will use in building my house. I used the remaining amount in buying myself a pair of pair clothe and shoes to be wearing when going to church as I did not have decent ones."

"Before GiveDirectly came to Mathare, I used to live with my friend and he had already requested me to move out since he was planning to marry. I had paid my house rent five days before receiving my first transfers but could not sleep in it since I did not have anything to use and so I used to sleep my other friends' houses. This prompted me to spend the entire amount in buying beddings and other household necessities so that I could be independent."

"Since I was able to buy a dairy cow using the money I received from GiveDirectly, I no longer buy milk unlike before as I have mine now. This makes me happy as my children get enough milk to drink. The fact that I now have a cow makes me happy and proud since its an asset that increases in number over time and this is so far the biggest difference I have ever experienced in my daily life."