"Chicken rearing has always worked for me. They do not require much capital at the same time, managing them is easy. I have been doing it but not on a large scale because in most cases, I would sell some of them to raise money for settling my household bills and school fees for my children. At the time when I received the second transfer I only had two of them left. I, therefore, spent KES 2000 on 10 more for rearing with a projection of selling some of them by the end of the year to raise money for purchasing a goat. KES 1000 I spent on some of the foodstuffs for my family that can take them for quite some time. Food prices have gone up due to the current drought hence I had to take advantage of the transfers."

"I usually depend on charcoal burning to generate income. However, the money I make, which is around KES 1000 per month, scarcely settles the household bills. The main challenge is food provision, we have suffered from hunger to an extent of starving at least five times a month. When I received the transfer, my priority was securing foodstuffs since the same had depleted the previous night. So I directed KES 570 towards buying maize flour. Additionally, I spent KES 600 to buy two hens. Once the chicken multiply, they will help me source funds for goats and later cattle. Investing in livestock keeping is the surest means of sourcing funds, especially during a financial crisis. Additionally, I can confidently rely on it to produce school fees for my son who is set to commence his high school education next term."

"Prior to receiving the money, my children and I had actually not eaten for about two days because I had no money and there absolutely no food in the house. It was a sad situation especially since I could not do anything about it but wait. So as soon as I received the transfers I went ahead and bought a bag of maize flour which contained twelve packets for KES 1320. I then took KES 1,400 and put it away because at the time schools were closed and they would open soon. I wanted to start saving up school fees so that my son would also go back to school like the rest of the kids when the institution resumed back for learning. I was left with about KES 280 which I used to buy chicken because I wanted to begin poultry farming for commercial reasons so that we would not have to always go hungry like we have been."

"Before even getting introduced to GiveDirectly I had a project where I did poultry farming at large scale but unfortunately a sickness came in and swept away almost over twenty hens that I owned. I suffered huge loses and planned on beginning the process again when I got the transfers. As soon as my turn came to receiving the money from GiveDirectly, I immediately went ahead and bought four more hens which cost me KES 800. I wanted my business to grow back to where it was earlier especially since I relied on selling the chicken to provide for the needs of my family which included mostly nutrition and tuition fee. After that I used KES 125 and bought a kilogram of sugar and saved the KES 200 that I was left with because my kids were soon going to back to school and I needed to be prepared to cater for school fees."

"I recently started building my new kitchen, but it stopped for lack of funds, upon receiving the transfer it will help me to finish my kitchen, and the remaining amount I plan to use it to buy few chicken for rearing which I can resell when passing through tough economic times."

"In February this year, one of my good friends surprised me with 2,000 KES as a gift. To always remember his good gesture of kindness, I bought 3 birds ( chicken). His act made me very happy because hopefully, I will be a renowned poultry farmer."

"Chicken rearing was so supportive that I could not complain of want. When I married, two years ago, the cost of living increased and the business could not keep up with the daily needs, it collapsed. It has been my wish to relaunch it in vain. Receiving this money gives me another opportunity to re- start the project. I am optimistic, within three months, I will have saved 6 000KES which is enough to kick start the income generating activity. With 20 chicken for a start, I will be able to make a profit of 5 000KES in three months. Additionally, I plan to spend 10 000KES of my transfers to buy a bed and a mattress as I leave my current bed for my two children."

"My husband who was the breadwinner of the family got accident that left him bedridden two years ago. Even since then, I have been the sole provider of my family through Charcoal burning. The business right now is not flourishing as it used to be two years ago because of COVID-19 impact and harsh economic conditions that we are facing as a country. My husband needs regular check-ups and with KES 400 that I earn per week, I cannot afford to provide for the family, pay school fees and cater for his medication. Most times, I'm forcing to borrow to be able to pay all the bills. If I had an alternative source of income, it wouldn't be a struggle as it has been. I had been thinking of starting a poultry farming business but I didn't have money to buy the chicken. With the recent transfer, I spend KES 1000 to buy 3 chicken and I'm hoping to buy more as the time progresses. I spend KES 1000 to buy school uniform for two of my children who had torn uniform and KES 1000 to buy food."

"I separated from my husband 10 years ago. Since then, I've been taking care of my two children solely. One is in class 5 and the other in class 4. Their total school fee is KES 6000. To manage this, I have a business where I buy coconuts and then trade them in the market. It earns me around KES 400 to KES 500. Whenever I get stuck, I often reach out to my family for some help. Before the children closed school, I had a school fee arrears of KES400. I used the funds from give directly to settle the debt. For the amount that remained, I bought a chicken to add to my poultry and some food as I had run out of some."

"Receiving this money means I will be able to build a house. I live in one house that doubles up as a kitchen and a bedroom.I will spend about KES 50,000 on this and also buy a water tank to collect rain water, at about KES 30,000 .With the remaining KES 20,000, I will start a poultry keeping business to support me as a source of income.Ibwill spend what I make on daily household needs. Ultimately, I aim at growing income from selling eggs upto KES 2000 per day but for a start, with about 20 chicken that I will buy as soon as I receive the transfers, I will be making at least KES 1400 per week."