"The high cost of living in the country has made life so intolerable, currently, I have been facing difficulty in paying for school fees for my 4 children at different schools. I have 2 children in secondaries and 2 children in boarding primary school. Their school fees have accumulated to Ksh 180,000. It has always been my desire to see them have a prosperous life in the future. Secondly, food security is a major challenge in our community..living in semi-arid areas where it hardly rains and the nature of the land we have cannot allow is do any kind of farming. We fully depend on buying food from the Market which is so expensive. At least in a day, we spend approximately Ksh 800 on household expenses. The scarcity of water in the area has made us be buying water from a borehole in marigat town, we normally buy water amounting to Ksh 5,000 a month. This water is not even sufficient for my family of 10 people."

"Challenges with nutrition have been the biggest issue we've had in my house for the longest time and at times we've had to go for days on end without knowing when our next meal would be. Therefore when I noticed the arrival of the transfers I was elated and I went ahead to use KES 2,400 in purchasing ten packets of maize flour, two kilograms of beans and drinking water as well since it was quite scarce due to drought. I went to head to use the balance of KES 600 to pay a tuition for my two kids since they were almost on the verge of being kicked out of school."

"I bought a goat for $25 with a significant portion of my second transfer. I've always wanted to raise animals, sell some of them, and make a living doing it. I lacked the funds to purchase the livestock, so this was not feasible. Currently I'm content and confident that I can realize my dream. I bought food with the remaining $5. I run a charcoal business, but it's not doing well, so I don't make enough money to cover my basic needs ( buying food, water and medication). When I am unable to purchase food, my son, who is a water vendor in the community, frequently swings in to help. I'm relieved to have enough food for a week because it keeps me from going to bed hungry."

"As a farmer, I was forced to stop working after the drought started three years ago. Due to the meager income I receive from selling charcoal, I have found it difficult to support my family (my mother and wife). The majority of the customers I serve who buy charcoal prefer to use readily available fuels like firewood because it is very affordable and available. I work manual jobs like fetching water, building houses, and raising livestock in addition to selling charcoal to make ends meet. Because I don't work a regular schedule of jobs, I occasionally don't have enough money to feed my family, which forces us to go to bed hungry. So when I got my transfer, I bought food for the family with a sizable portion of $23.5. The unpredictable nature of the jobs I work on is what prompted me to buy food in bulk. This was done to make sure that my family wouldn't go hungry while I looked for a job. The remaining $6.5 went toward mending my house's door. I feel secure knowing that I fixed the door, making my home and family safe and secure."

"" Everything is expensive these days, we usually have food to eat but it's not enough. I usually spend 75% of my salary for food. We don't have save drinking water in our community, the two hand pump is not in good condition. We usually get our drinking water from zleh town. For that reasons, the challenges I am facing lack of finance and save drinking water"."

"The major challenge we have is money. We rely on agriculture but our gardens are full of water so our crop is not doing well. Therefore nothing to sell and hence no money. Likewise, we don't have food for the household since we didn't have good harvests and can't buy. My wife sells tomatoes at the market but that's barely keeping us."

"I am personally very grateful to Givedirectly fir the support that they have given us. The money has been very helpful especially during this time when the drought situation has really worsened fir us. Everything has come to a standstill and it has made it quite difficult even to do farming in our land. When I received my most recent transfer, I used the entire amount to buy food and water for my family. I have been relying on casual work to earn a living in my family and even getting such casual jobs have proven to be quite hard nowadays. GiveDirectly has been such a relief to us and we cannot thank them enough."

"I used $15 to pay school fees for my four children and another $15 to buy food and water for the family. I am a mother of four and I normally do tailoring as an income generating business. Things have lately been very tough for everyone largely because of the drought and famine experienced in our area. There is no crop farming and even livestock are facing the worst starvation. My business has been performing dismally just like anyone else and getting to make even as little as $3 per day is now a toll order. We are so grateful and lucky to have been part of the beneficiaries of this program since we get to receive the money monthly and in turn use it to buy food, water and also pay school fees for our four children. In my household, my husband and I are receiving the cash and this makes it very easy to budget and share costs within our household. Things would have been tougher had we not received money from GiveDirectly."

"I am unable to work due to a chest complication. Supporting the education of my 5 children both in college and primary school has been my long-term goal. I used $25 to pay their term one fees as well as examination fees for the 4 children who are in public primary school. In addition, I used $10 to purchase school uniforms for two kids who did not have them. They were going to school using casual wear something embarrassing and always their teachers could confront them for the same. Additionally, I spent $55 to purchase enough foodstuffs and water for the family of six kids plus I and my spouse since we are experiencing drought and famine in our area at the moment."

"My husband works as a casual laborer in Mombasa town, where he has been for over a year, to help pay most of the family bills as well as school fees for my four children, who are currently in primary school. I was relieved to relieve him of the burden when I received the most recent transfer, which I used to pay $10 in school fees, $10 for maize flour to replenish the food basket for my family of seven, $5 for green groceries, and the remaining amount on water, which has been in short supply and is currently going for $0.5 for a 20-liter container. My husband appreciated the help, and I hope todo a lot with the subsequent transfer. "