"We value cattle so much in my community. At times people pity you when you do not own even a cow. They could not imagine how your children survive without milk. This makes me feel bad now that I am part of those people without cattle. I am working hard to see that I buy my family a dairy cow. This will enable me to produce plenty of milk for my family."

"I'm a teacher by profession at Kietamer Primary School. I teach the little angels in the nursery, earning $160 per month in salary. As for my husband, he works as a driver at the Treasury, earning $500 per month in salary. The funds from GiveDirectly allowed us to finally have some disposable income to help us achieve those things we had kept putting on the back burner due to other responsibilities. As such, I undertook the purchase of a cow. Both for milk and for breeding, it seemed like a good idea! Considering we have a 1 acre farm on which we grow maize, I didn't see the need to buy food, so I chose to cater for the kids' fees with the transfers from GiveDirectly. We have three kids. Our eldest recently graduated from high school and plans to attend university to study nursing. The second born is in class 8 at Sigor Primary Boarding School, for whom we pay $280 per year. The third born is in PP2 at St. Francis Academy, and we pay $50 per term for her tuition. GiveDirectly was a blessing to my partner and me. We finally had the privilege of having more cash than we normally make, allowing us to do so many things that we had previously only dreamed of one day doing."

"With the second transfer I received from GiveDirectly, I happily went and bought a cow at $240 and a bull at $150. This really made me so happy because I had no cow before and it really gave me confidence that my tomorrow will be bright. I wanted to buy cow and expand my house before I could find myself a beautiful wife and thanks to GiveDirectly I was able to achieve that. I had a small house that was made of wood and I thought that it was really necessary to expand it and add some extra rooms. I bought eighty strong woods to expand my house and each wood did cost $2 and I used a total of $120 to construct my house. The remaining amount of $10 I bought myself new clothes that made me look good and feel great."

"My main skill set is sewing. I sew sweaters. With the funds from GiveDirectly, I chose to invest in my craft. I bought a sewing machine to help me sew my sweaters. A small sweater costs $2.5 and a large sweater costs $3.5. I make a profit of about $5 per day thanks to the machine, which allows me to make my sweaters a lot quicker. I also bought food for the house. ensuring that my kids and my husband have enough food to last us for a while moving forward. We have four kids. The three eldest are all in the same school, in grades 4, 2, and 1, respectively. Thanks to the funds from GiveDirectly, I was able to pay for all their fees and pay in advance for a few other terms as well. The school charges $8 for all three, which my husband and I have been struggling to raise each term. He sells cows in the market, and despite both of our efforts, we often still had to struggle to raise enough funds for all our needs. To supplement our income, we grow cabbage and maize on our 3-acre farm, which allows us to sell the maize for $50 per sack come harvest time. GiveDirectly has allowed us to have a reprieve from the stress of providing for our family, thanks to the funds they sent us."

"Before the transfers, I never had cows before as I had no stable source of income. I used the transfers to buy female cows for kshs 35,000. This is for milk production for my family's consumption and sale. I do casual work to earn a living and most of the time the pay is too little to cater for my basic needs, I do top it up with the money from selling milk and this has enabled me to take care of other basic needs like food, clothing and kids school fees. I used the remaining part of the transfers of kshs 20,000 to buy a piece of three-seater furniture. I used to fear hosting friends and relatives as I never had enough seats for them, but my self-esteem has improved since I started receiving transfers from GiveDirectly."

"My main source of income is the pottery I create at home. The sales from my wares make me around $2.5 per day. My husband was a mason, but there isn't any work currently, so he is at home all day. We have a 1-acre farm where we grow maize and tomatoes. The maize is for domestic use, while the tomatoes we sell for $10 to $20 per crate. I say all this to paint a picture of how dire things were prior to the transfers from GiveDirectly. Thanks to the funds, I was able to buy one female cow, offering us milk for both domestic use and sale. I also got clothes for the whole family, i.e., myself, my partner, and the 3 kids. Food was next on the list. I bought enough to keep us fed for a while and stocked them in the pantry. My two eldest are in school. They are in Class 8 and Grade 6, with each needing $6 and $9, respectively, per term, for their education at Ngonyat Primary School. GiveDirectly enabled us to meet our needs with dignity and respect, and both myself and my husband continued to fulfill our responsibilities as parents to our children. "

"Milk is a nutritious meal and does not miss to be on our table. Unfortunately, the price of milk is now expensive selling for up to KES 50 per liter. When I received my second transfer, my thoughts is to spend KES 35000 to buy a cow for my family. I am happy that we are no longer using our little family income to buy milk. I have been scratching my head about where to get money to buy clothing and food for the family. I saw a perfect opportunity when I received my second transfer. We went to Chebunyo market and bought clothes and food for ourselves."

"I am a single mother of six children and bringing them up alone without reliable source of income has not been easy for me. I rely on an average daily income of $2.5 that I earn as a wage working as casual in farms and selling milk since I have a dairy cow. Since all my children are in school and the older one has already proceeded to high school, I needed to buy another dairy cow to get additional source of income to be able to pay school fees without much strain. With the second transfer, I spend $280 to buy a dairy cow, $100 to pay school fees for my child and the balance to buy food. The dairy cow that I bought is due to give birth in some few months and I know moving forward, paying school fees won't be as difficult as it has been."

"Both my husband and I are casual labourers. I do laundry and clean other people's houses in the neighborhood to earn living while my husband fetches and sells water to the neighbors. Due to our low daily wages, we have never been prevailed to own a cow and therefore, we have been buying milk for our children and a litre of milk goes for $0.8. Since my husband and I earns an average daily wage of $2, we have never been able to save towards buying things that we admire most in life such as dairy cow. I spend $300 to buy a dairy cow which is most likely to give birth this year, $150 to pay school fees for my child who's in high school and the balance to buy clothes for my six children who had torn clothes. I can't wait to sell milk and earn income and improve my standards of living."

"I spent $160 of the most recent to purchase one local dairy cow. This is a long-term investment and a steady supply of milk for the family. Additionally, when it reproduces I will be able to sell its offspring to support myself financially. Similarly, I bought two goats for $74. Also, I bought a modern bed and mattress for $103 for myself. Earlier, I was sleeping on a small traditional bed which was not enough for me and my grandchildren. They had to spend their nights on the floor which is very risky since there are red ants. I used the remaining amount to purchase sufficient food since we are experiencing famine in our area coupled with the high cost of living due to climate change."