"The biggest difference in my daily life is that I have bought two heifers. I had always wished to start a dairy project but I didn't had money to buy the cows. I do casual jobs in the village and sometimes to get this jobs is so hard. I do small scale farming and the harvest that we get annually is for consumption. I rarely get surplus to sell it. The amount of money that I get from the casual jobs is so small and cannot meet all the basic needs of the family including paying school fees for my children. Investing in dairy farming project was just a dream. When I received the transfer from GiveDirectly I felt so happy because I knew this was my dream come true. Currently I have two heifers and when they reproduced in the next few months I will get enough milk for my family. I will sell the surplus at the market to earn an income to meet other basic household needs. I will be in a position to save some money to pay school fees for my children. My plans is to improve this dairy farming project and grow it to another level. I am so happy because GiveDirectly has changed my living standard. Were it not GiveDirectly I wouldn't have reach where I am now. God bless GiveDirectly."

"The biggest hardship we have faced as a family is a poor economy in our area. This has made it difficult for me and my husband to secure casual jobs that would earn us some income. We lack vital skills and knowledge for securing white-collar jobs. Also, the poor economy has forced me to do away with the dream of starting up a grocery business. Precisely, I have been anticipating losses if I start the business because almost everyone is relatively poor. As a result, it has become almost impossible for us to raise school fees for our children."

"The moment I received the transfer I felt so happy. I remember vividly like yesterday. It was around 9:10 am when I heard a ringtone message from my phone. I was doing my morning chores. I stop and checked it, I couldn't believe my eyes. It was a message confirming that I have received money from GiveDirectly. I immediately inform my family members and they also celebrated. I knew I would be able to pay school fees for my son who was to join form one. I heard a ringtone message from my phone. Was doing my chore. Immediately I heard the celebration from my neighbors. It was a big day for us, a day I will never forget because I have never received such amount of money before."

"I had started a shoe business with a loan. This business collapsed last year due to covid, there was lockdown in most parts of the country especially Nairobi city where we purchased these second-hand shoes from Gikomba market. Receiving this money will enable me to offset the loan of $300 will allow me to revive my business with a capital of &500. I also want to buy a dairy cow because this cow will give me milk and this will be a source of nutritious food for my family. By the time my children will be in secondary schools this cow will have multiplied. Payment of school fees will not me a challenge for me because I shall be selling the calves."

"I work as a business lady and my husband as a teacher.Our two children are in high school where we pay a lot of school fees approximately a thousand dollars per year.These grants from Give Directly will stabilize my business hence more returns because I will have at least sixmonths to save what I would have used as school fees. I shall use $800 to pay my kids school fees for two terms. We had a established a private school within the community .This school performance was always good but due to Covid and the introduction of Competency Based Curriculum within the education system of the country the school collapsed.Most parents were unable to pay school fees hence the opted for public schools.we had borrowed a loan from Letshego financial firm and the loan is still outstanding.Although this money will not settle the whole debt at letshego, it will relieve me by a &300 amount and I am grateful."

"I am a graduate and I would want to be self employed.Nowadays its very difficult for one to secure formal employment.Receiving this Money will mean that my fear of getting a good job is secured.I plan on starting up a business of buying and selling household goods and combine it with M-pesa business.My father had given me one of the shops that he lets out but I lacked capital to start up the business. This will be the best opportunity for me to fulfill it.It will cost Ksh 50,000 on M-pesa and Ksh 40,000 to buy other stock. At the end of every month I will be earning enough money to pay for my wife's school fees and also cater for other family needs such as food and clothing."

"Getting this money to me mean that i will be able to clear school fees for my child who is in secondary school. The school owes me 170 dollars. I also have a grass thatched house which i use as kitchen. Its leaking when it rains. Sometimes its even hard to cook. I want to construct a iron roofed house which will cost around 150 dollars. I also have a problem with water. Our source of water is the river which is far from my house and the water is not safe for drinking. We have tapped water and i would like to change to my house. This will enable me to get water for household use and even use for farming. Our area is prone to drought. So when i get this water i can do irrigation in my farm."

"Since my husband passed away I have been living as a widower. It is not always easy to fend for the family by a single parent . I have been struggling to provide for my family and to pay for the school fees."

"Daily I have been buying milk for home consumption costing around 3,000 shillings every month. This is costly for me because I depend on masonry as a source of income where by sometimes on a good month I earn around 10,000 shillings. This is suppose now meet family basic needs and school fees for my children. My desire has been to purchase a dairy cow to end this high cost of expenditures and as well as to add my source of income from its produce. God willing if I received this money I know now my family will own a daily cow worth 30,000 shillings and use the rest of the money on renovating my house and other expenditures."

"I dropped out of school in 2017 due to lack of school fees. I am a second born son from a polygamous family. My father had 4 wives of which my mother was the last wife and she was younger among the four wives, she was married at the time my father was old and tired . Due to that my mother had to be independent in everything this led me to cease going to school due to huge school arrears. As a breadwinner of the family I was forced to engage in casual jobs at nearby town of which I earn 200 Kenya shillings in a day, this is insufficient to meet daily basic need of 7. Receiving this money therefore, will be big help to me. I plan to use 40,000 Kenya shillings to construct my house because the one that i am in now is small given that I recently got married and my family will expand. I also plan to use 20000 Kenya shillings to clear school fees for my siblings because I don't want them to be like me, 15000 to purchase goats this will be for sale since they procreates so fast. The rest of the money, I plan to open a business of selling vegetables because it does well in this area."