"Making water available at my doorstep is my greatest desire since at the moment, I have to buy from my neighbor. With this money, I will spend $200 of my first transfer to install the pipes in my home. The other portion ($300) will help me to renovate my house. Since I have my daughter who is yet to join secondary school next year, I plan to spend the second transfer to support her in preparations and paying part of the school fees. Thus, this is generally what receiving this money means to me."

"On the day that i received this transfer , I wasn't feeling well , so I was having some rest when I heard my phone ringing. I was so happy to see that it was the second transfer from Give Directly ! Since my husband was not at home I called to share the good news and he quickly came home for us to plan on the expenditure . Before, we used to have a very weak and unpresentable bed , our mattress was so old . So I spent $55 on bed and $50 on a mattress . I then donated my old beddings to my in-law . We used to have old poor quality chairs , I used $15 to buy two comfortable seats . 2seats 1500. Our house was at the verge of collapsing and it needed some renovation . I spent $20 on cement to repair the floor , and $90 on a steel door since previously we used to have an iron sheet door . I have been keeping my clothes in a wooden box , I needed a good suitcase hence I bought one at $15 , I'm now using the old one for my baby's clothes. We did not have enough water storage containers , so I bought seven of them and paid $11 . We had never put on new clothes for a very long time , so I took $50 and bought clothes for my husband , children and I , I wish you could see the smiles on our faces the way we wore them ! I spent $130 on two goats , I now own three goats and I intend to have them multiply even more .I had a debt at our local shop where I always take food on credit , it had accumulated to $58 so I cleared the debt and spend the rest of the money on food ."

"I am a seasonal farmer and so I depend a lot on the vegetables that I grow to be able to get food for my family. In the past couple of months, it has not been raining and so we had been greatly affected by the drought and also the lack of water. My four children and I had been going without food for days on. We had run out of food, thus I spent $50 on buying enough food for my family ensuring that we do not go to sleep hungry. The house that we were staying in was dilapidated and I was afraid that it might crumble down anytime soon leaving us homeless. I spent $230 on buying building materials. I also bought a bed and one mattress worth $150 to replace the torn ones that we had been sleeping on for the last five years. As we all know that education is the best gift to give to your children, I paid their school fees arrears of $100 to ensure that they remain in school all through. All this was made possible by GiveDirectly’s generosity."

"I'm jobless, I spend most of my time farming on our small piece of land . My husband who is the sole bread winner of our family , is a charcoal burner . I was sitted at home , eagerly anticipating for this money when my husband showed me the Mpesa message from Segovia technology , since my line was in his phone . He was so excited and just laughing on his own. We both shared the same feeling of joy because nobody has ever sent us such large sums of money. My house was dilapidated , I bought blocks worth $100 , cement worth $50 and water plus it's transportation worth $30 (We source water from very far ). I then paid $100 for labour for the renovation of my house and as we speak , my house is super beautiful and strong . I'm so grateful because if it were not for Give Directly , my house wouldn't be this strong . I really wanted to have something that would last long , so I spent $140 on four goats . Goats are important because I can later sell them and pay school fees for my children. I also used $30 to pay school fees for my 3 children who are in primary school . Since we did not have food in the house , I bought one bag of maize worth $50 and spend the balance on water ."

"I would love to be able to start my own business. This would allow me to be able to pay school fees for my other kids who have just completed primary as well as cater for those who will be joining soon enough. I would also like to start selling water to people in the neighbourhood as a form of business and this would also ensure continued cashflow."

"Our kitchen house is old and dilapidated. It has lasted for 30 years now. It is grass thatched and it has started to leak and let water inside the house and thus making it unconducive and uncomfortable to live in. It has also become hard to find grass for roofing and therefore there is the need to build an iron-roofed house which is expensive and that is the reason why we have never been able to build one. This help is a major boost for us, it is a big enabler for us to build our dream kitchen house. We intend to use the money for the construction of a timber-walled and iron-roofed house that is estimated to cost $900. We will use the rest of the money for medication and the purchase of foodstuffs."

"Am always worried about water that comes from up uphill, the water can be very fast and destroys our crops. We are always living in fear especially when it's the rainy season around August September even in March. The desire to move away from these areas forced me Andy wife to to go to Kenya and start working there so that we can be able to get money to enable us to move to other safer areas."

"Water comes from uphill especially during the rainy season and destroys most of our crops especially beans. It also destroys the grass that we plant for our animals to eat. After destruction of our crops, we are faced with hunger since the food we would have gotten is destroyed."

"I intend to buy big water tanks where I will store water and sell it to my neighbours as well as use it for farming vegetables. This will come in handy to help substitute my husbands income."

"I currently face a challenge of landslides and water that comes from underground during rainy season and affect the house which deny a comfortable stay in such a house. I am also affected by poverty which has hindered me to relocate from such a dangerous place to a safer place where we can stay conformably and also carry out cultivation so that we can be in position to get food for our people in plenty."