"Every parent hopes to see their children through their education. It is a responsibility that has been bestowed upon us and it can be huge and insurmountable at times. Raising school fees has not been a walk in the park for us, so hard is the situation that our son, Hillary, who had secured a placement at Kenya Medical Training College and was due to join in March but it was not possible because of lack of school fees and so he had to defer to sometime in May, another girl is also due to join the college in Nakuru to pursue a certificate course in Community Development. We are so hopeful about our children attaining their dreams and aspirations of pursuing their dream courses and eventually leading a better life than ours but this has remained a pipe dream."

"My wife passed on last year and life took a different turn for me since I am left alone to fend for my child and grandchild. When she was alive we could make a living together, life was better as I was not struggling to put food on the table like it is the case now. We are grappling with a devastating food insecurity that has made our lives unbearable and full of misery. This is coming in the wake of prolonged drought that has wiped down the crops and vegetation. Our livestock too had been hit hard by the drought, some even died. The cost of living has gone high and sometimes I cannot afford to buy food since it is expensive, a Kg of maize flour is $0.9 which is costly given that I am a person of little means who have no sustainable income."

"The separation from my husband posed me with a lot of challenges that have made my life miserable at the moment. With 6 children, two of them being in high school is another blow to me since I am compelled to take care of them single-handedly. In October last year, luck was not my portion, the kiosk where I used to work in was demolished because it was just on the roadside. This made me jobless and it forced me to come back home to venture into farming and other casual jobs. The prolonged drought in our area is another major concern since it has made farming unreliable. The situation at the moment is worse and most of the time, my children stay at home for a month before they resume classes. Watching them desperately at home pisses me off since I am quite sure their life is at stake. This has devoured my hope for a better future since their performances are affected. I, therefore, consider the lack of a reliable source of income as my biggest challenge."

"When my husband passed on seven years ago, I became the sole provider for my family of seven. I do casual jobs and also fetch firewood to earn a living which is hardly enough to meet all the family's basic needs. Sometimes I hardly have money to sustain my two children at university and another in secondary school. If I had a stable source of income, my life would be better."

"Educating my four children is a challenge due to the lack of a stable source of income. We depend on livestock to earn a living but the persistent drought has resulted in a reduction of value. Nowadays, a goat earns $35 compared to previously when it was $55 hence the struggle to pay school fees for my two children in secondary school."

"The recent heavy rainfall in our area brought a smile to my face. For a long time, we had been praying for rain without any success. The ongoing rains have given us hope that we will have a bountiful harvest from our farm. With an abundance of food, I plan to use my monthly stipend to invest in livestock farming, as I am keen on creating wealth through this avenue. I believe that my investment in livestock will multiply over time, leading to significant returns."

"My top priority at the moment is to completely renovate the roof on my house. Living under a roof made of rotten grass has been a source of great difficulty and stress for me. The harsh weather conditions have made it challenging to harvest the grasses that we use to make our roofs. As a result, I have had to think outside the box to find a long-term solution to this problem. Thanks to the help I received from the transfers, I plan to purchase iron sheets and repair the roof. This will give me peace of mind, knowing that my property and family members will be safe and secure during the rainy season. I am grateful for the opportunity to finally solve this problem once and for all, and I look forward to living in a house with a strong, durable roof that will protect my family from the elements."

"I now have two female calves that I purchased with GiveDirectly transfers. My hope is that in a year's time, they will have multiplied by giving birth to more calves, and I will finally be able to milk them. This way, I won't be required to purchase milk for my family, and I'll have a business opportunity through selling the rest of the liters of milk to our neighbors, generating us money to pay school fees for our children with no too much difficulty."

"Since we have been living in extreme poverty, I have not been able to increase the size of my livestock. However, with the assurance of my transfers, I hope to improve my livestock keeping. I will prioritize buying additional goats and improving my poultry farming. Currently, I only have one goat and two hens. With an increase in the number of goats and domestic fowls, raising cash for school fees and other emergency needs will not be a struggle for me. Presently, I feel more stressed when we have a need that requires an immediate financial commitment."

"My family is still young, and we are still trying to settle and figure out our career choices, therefore the second transfer from Give Directly came in handy just when we needed it the most. My husband is an electrical engineering student at KPLC Institute, and we have been trying to raise funds to pay for school fees because we have a child and none of us has a permanent job. So, with the second transfer, we chose to pay a portion of the school fees with $300, $150 for my child's school, and $130 for vegetable farming in order to generate more cash to support our family's requirements."