"I'm a widow and I live in a small, run-down house with grass thatching. My home's walls and roof are both in poor shape. Rainwater is seriously leaking into the house through the rotten coconut leaves ("Makuti") I used as roofing. I must put up with the chilly and cold weather at night because the mud walls of the house have broken. My health has been negatively impacted by this. This is the reason I saved $6 from my January transfers; I'll use it to fix and upgrade my home's condition. To make a living, I primarily rely on working on other people's farms. The severe effects of the drought have rendered the farms completely useless, making this impossible at the moment. Without a source of income, purchasing food from the store at exorbitant prices is the only option for surviving. With the remaining $29, I made bulk food purchases to ensure that I wouldn't go hungry."

"My husband was diagnosed with tuberculosis and has been hospitalized for over a year. His condition deteriorates at times, and he is unable to perform any task that would strain his lungs. Managing all of the household responsibilities has been difficult for me, but I am grateful for his motivation, which keeps me going. I spent $200 of the first transfer on clearing school fees for my daughter, who is in her final year of secondary school. She currently has plenty of time to study and prepare for her final exam without interruption. I also purchased 18 iron sheets for $9 each in preparation for building a new house to replace our old one. We live in an old house with cracks in the walls and holes in the roof that let in both cold and water during the rainy season. This has a significant impact on my spouse because his condition is aggravated by the cold. In addition, I purchased two goats for $60 that I am raising with the intention of breeding and selling the offspring in the future to fund other new projects. My son, John, just finished his grade eight exams and will be starting secondary school soon after. I bought him a new pair of school uniform worth $30 and a new pair of shoes for $6. The remainder was later spent on food for my family of six."

"I always had a dream of rearing dairy goats, though it was not easy to raise them due to financial constraints. My husband and I work at the county government. Together we are blessed with five children. Upon receiving my transfer, my husband and I agreed on buying a dairy goat to save up money that we use daily on purchasing milk. Therefore, I bought one for $170. Secondly, bought a water tank worth $140 and lastly I purchased foodstuffs with the remaining amount. I am so happy and fulfilled that I was able to accomplish my goal in a short period."

"The biggest difference in my daily work today is that I was able to purchase a water tank. This has saved my wife from going to the stream in search of water daily. Secondly, I paid for national hospital insurance coverage. I was unable to accomplish all this due to financial constraints. Additionally, I was able to purchase enough foodstuffs in the house. I am happy and grateful for the support that brought so much happiness into our lives and also uplifted my living standards."

"The biggest difference in my life today is that we have a water supply sufficient for all our needs. Secondly, I am a fulfilled parent because I was able to clear the school fees areas for my children. it had accumulated because of my unreliable source of living. The support has changed my living status for the better. I am forever indebted to GiveDirectly for putting a smile on our faces."

"I aim to invest in livestock specifically goats. I chose goats over cows because goats can survive without water for a longer time compared to cows. Again they are cheap to maintain and they have read markets since they are affordable and thus can be converted to monetary value anytime the need arises. Through this investment, I will be able to sustain my family without straining."

"On the withdrawal day, I bought a sack of maize for $60. This was the first thing I did because hunger had struck us and drought had no mercy on us. I am happy because my family got some food which took them some time and rested from the tiring job of making charcoals. Thereafter, I opted to buy three goats for $90 as an investment. Due to the lack of a defined source of income which made my family wear outdated and shaggy clothes, I opted to buy them some clothes. After that, I decided to keep the remaining amount for the family's upkeep because both food and water were scarce. Before then, we used to go up to two days a week without taking some meals. As of now, we are grateful that we get food through the help we received from GiveDirectly."

"Thanks to GiveDirectly funds, I rented a 1-acre plot of land where I am now growing watermelon. I quickly paid off my 50% debt on a power saw and stocked up on food for myself and my two households. I say two because I have two wives: my first (with whom I am still married) and my second (with whom I am no longer married). We share 8 children, and some of the money was used to pay for their education tuition. My sixth-born is the most expensive, requiring $200 per term at Misihu Secondary, while the others are in various stages of completion, pausing and starting their educational journeys, primarily due to a lack of funds in the past. My wife works at a small grocery store near our house, so we've needed all the financial help we could get to help us both deal with our responsibilities. We couldn't thank them enough for their assistance."

"Not being able to get capital is the main challenge we are currently facing because when we approach banks and cooperatives they give us a few days for repayment, my husband vianney asked for a loan of $100 and when he got apporoval to get it they immediately deducted their interest and he received $81 which had to be paid in a period of one year installments for every 3 months. When we received that amount we started a business of raising livestocks , we bought 3 goats which we had to sell every 3 months to be able to pay out the loan and in actual reality we faced loses and penalties , we didn't operate as we expected because much pressure was on getting money to pay back without even gaining any profit and later on some programs that helps small businesses and pay back after getting profits come in our village but they required mortgage which we don't possess and therefore having a capital to start a business is our main challenge. Infrastructure in our village is another challenge because we don't have access to roads, electricity and water which doesn't allow us to work properly or even get enough income from our activities. Getting fertiliser to use is still a challenge, to use either Organic and inorganic is very expensive. to get inorganic requires money and we don't have livestock to get the organic fertiliser."

"In the coming year, I hope to connect tap water to our house. This will ensure that we have readily available water for the family use as well as for sale to earn extra income. Currently, we are forced to travel for 2 kilometres daily in searching for clean water. Being old, this is a very tiresome task for me. Similarly, I was lucky to receive 10000 litres water tank from our county government where I intend to store enough water. In addition, I am planning to start a small farm where I would be doing irrigation farming to grow a variety of vegetables like spinach for my own use."