"GiveDirectly has had a positive impact on the lives of many people in my community. Many of us have been able to build decent houses, acquire livestock, pay school fees for our children and set up small businesses. In my experience, I do not think that there's anything GiveDirectly doesn't do well."

"Had it not been for the transfer from GiveDirectly, I wouldn't have been able to start my own business. I am a Field Officer for a Non-Governmental Organisation, which is a volunteer position. I can hardly afford to meet my basic needs. This is a strenuous situation to be in, especially since I am responsible for providing the basic needs for my two nephews, since my sister passed away. Because of this, I used to be under constant stress because I did not have enough money. After receiving this transfer however, I paid my nephews' school fees, bought food and acquired a motorbike. I've employed someone to ferry passengers, and I've been earning at least KES 300 a day. I'm able to meet my family's needs and this makes me so happy."

"This money has come at the right time for me and my family. It's more than four years now since my husband left for South Africa to seek another way of bringing some more income to the family. From the time he went to until 2020 (when Covid hit), he was sending at least MWK50,000 every month. We were living happily as we were not worrying much about rent and other basic needs since we live a simple village life. Ever since Covid hit South Africa hard, he barely sends money home. This led me to seek employment and am now a mobile money agent. The wages are based on commission hence if I take time off to attend to crops,children when sick and other important activities,the wages are drastically reduced. I belive this money will assist me to afford better education for my child as she dropped out of school due to lack of school fees. In addition, I will also keep some money to buy other daily necessities that are needed in my house. I will also look into finding a good business to be doing so that I can be getting better income than what am currently earning."

"The biggest difference in my daily life is that I have bought a dairy cow. I used to buy milk daily and this was so costly for me. I was spending KES 60 per day. I depend on small scale farming and the harvest that we get is only for consumption. I had no other source of income. My spouse is a security guard in one of the private security company. The amount of money that he earns is also so small. We usually prioritized the household needs. We could not hardly save any money. When we received the first transfer I felt so happy because I knew I would be able to buy a dairy cow. Currently we no longer buy milk. We have enough for our family. We save the money that we could have used on milk to pay school fees for our children. I have devoted much of my time on my dairy cow. I ensure that I feed and give clean water to drink. I have hope that things gonna be much better than before. GiveDirectly has changed our living standard and given us hope to work much easier."

"Currently, I am out of school because of school fees and looking at the time for our WASSCE is almost here, I am even thinking of going on my campus tomorrow to appeal to the school administration to allow me complete my mock exams and take my WASSCE. For this reason, I am burning coal now to raise the money. After I complete my tests, I will be able to sell my coal and pay all my arrears."

"I am getting old and the work I used to do, I can't do them like before. So it affects my output as it relates to making a big farm and earning from it. It also affects me from providing my children's school fees. When I receive the money, the first thing I will do is to pay my children's tuition. If I have the money to pay their tuition, then I will be able to be saving from the sale of the produce on my farm. If the money is much, then I will invest in my garden so that it can still be used to contribute to the sustainability of my family, mainly my children."

"My plan is to help pay my son school fees and also to the eye clinic treatment."

""I the grace of Almighty Allah, when I receive the cash transfer, I plan to do business and also pay my children school fees."

"Working in casual labor over a long period of time had been so demoralizing as things have never been working well for my family. The delayed payments made me struggle a lot in settle debts that were always piling. My wife had to flee to her parents with our 9-year-old son who had just picked schooling. Since then, life has never been the same as I had to quit the job to work on my farming projects and ensure that I am always within the home area. Upon enrollment to this program, I had quite great plans that I am still hoping to see accomplished after the second transfer. So far, I have managed to construct a spacious poultry coop worth KES10000 after obtaining asphalt roofing materials, reinforcement wood panels, and a chain-link supported by strong wooden poles sturdy enough to keep predators at bay. Alongside this is the great investment of KES17000 on five sheep that I am currently rearing with the hope to see them multiply in the future to cushion me on school fees for my son and other household financial obligations. I also spent KES20800 from the remaining amount on replacing the old bedding, obtaining new pieces of furniture, and also used the remaining KES5000 on the solar panel and lighting system installation in my house. I am glad that I am in the final stages of the poultry house construction and hopeful to soon usher in chicks."

"I spent a larger portion of my first cash transfer on buying several building materials which include; bricks ad hardcore at KES 10000, twenty pieces of iron sheets at KES 20000, seven bags of cement at KES 5600, building poles and nails at a total of KES 2500. This was purposely for the construction of a new permanent house because the previous one was a temporary grass-thatched hut that was almost collapsing. In addition to that, I gave the mason KES 10000 as his labor charge. Later on, I cleared school fees arrears of KES 4000 for my four children who are still in primary schools and they are now studying peacefully. With the remaining amount of money(KES 2900), I m using it in buying enough foodstuff like maize flour, cereals, sugar for my family which would sustain us for a couple of days."