"I am the second born into a family of seven children. My mother works as a charcoal burner and my father is a casual laborer in the village. It has been a struggle for the family because of the lack of jobs, which is worse at the moment because of the prolonged drought. I have been in and out of school because of the outstanding school fees, and so are my siblings. Since I got enrolled in the program, all my transfer has been used to pay my school fees and buying of building materials. My recent transfer of $15 was spent on paying my school fees and the rest of $12 bought two pieces of iron sheet, the remaining $3 bought one chicken. I am grateful because my parents cannot afford my school fees and these funds have assisted me in being in class and also buying building materials to build my house."

"I am married with four children. My husband is a casual laborer in a different town from where we live. He comes home over the weekends after his pay and so most of the time it’s just me with my children. The instability of his source of income is the biggest challenge we have faced in the past years. Sometimes it can take for him to be away from home looking for a job even for a month and I am forced to support the family while he is away. After receiving my funds, I used $12 on food and another $12 to buy chicken because I started chicken farming as soon as I got enrolled in the program. I spent the remaining amount on buying one of my children a school sweater."

"Yes, after receiving my first transfer, I longed to build my house and a small veranda outside it, and buy a goat and good food for my family. Before I started receiving this form of aid for GiveDirectly, I had a very bad house with no door or a window the roof too was so old and had a lot of holes. During sunny seasons, the heat from the sun could penetrate in and burn us even from the inside, it could burn even my belongings. During rainy seasons, we could be rained on and everything in the house could be wet. My belongings could be ruined in the process. Chickens could enter from any part of the house, eat food and destroy my other belongings as they poop anyhow on their way out. My family used to forgo lunch, and only eat dinner and breakfast because the food was scarce. I thank GiveDirectly for the support, all this problems are now a bygone in my life."

"The most challenging problem at the time is money. I do business were i sell goats but now I'm selling chickens because I ran out of capital. I have a garden where I plant crops for sell but now with the weather I'm not realizing anything from there. So that makes buying food a challenge since we don't harvest well here already and our attempts at.making money are not fruitful."

"When I receive this money, I will firstly build a house on the land I bought, then invest some of the amount in livestock since the chickens I had were attacked by newcastle disease so I have none now. The remaining amount will be used to buy food."

"I had always wanted to start a poultry project. To actualize my dream I decided to join table banking,a women empowerment group which pool resources together with other women. Sometimes on August it was my turn and I got $100 which I used to purchase 15 chicken. It gave me an headstart and they have started laying eggs.I see this as an achievement and it gives me joy."

"I recently completed my form four studies in the year 2019. Going through my secondary education was so tough considering that getting school fees was so hard. I have two other siblings that required to be paid their school fees too. We all depended on our father who works as a veterinary officer. Having cleared my form four, I could not straight away join college of my choice, I had to wait a little longer to allow my two siblings progress at least to my level. When I started receiving these transfers, I thought it wise to start saving some amount that would then be used to pay my college fees. I saved $10 of my recent transfer towards this course and used another $3.5 to buy poultry. I chose to invest in poultry since it is a project that I can easily manage at personal level and for the fact that the chicken can easily multiply too. I then used the remaining amount of approximately $12 to buy personal needs such as food, soap and other important needs that I wanted. I am personally very grateful to GiveDirectly for awakening my dreams of a better future by making me dream of going back to school again."

"I am grateful to my husband for shouldering the burden of paying school fees for my five children as well as ensuring adequate food for our family of seven. When I receive the most recent transfer, I make certain that I contribute and relieve him of some expenses. My five children each required $2 in examination fees. I was delighted to fill in and pay after receiving the transfer. I also spent $10 on maize flour, which is currently expensive in our community due to the severe drought. I spent $5 of the remaining funds on two chickens and the rest on the construction coop where the two chickens are currently housed."

"For a long time, our reliance on farming has been paralyzed by the drought, which has destroyed all crops and grazing fields for our livestock. Paying school fees has also been difficult because we do not have a consistent source of income. I spent $10 of my most recent transfer on school fees for my daughter and son, both of whom are in primary school. I am relieved that we have them settled in school and that they are currently attending all classes without disruption. I also spent $5 on a medical check-up because I was not feeling well and needed to see a doctor. In addition, I spent $5 on food for my family of six, bought two chickens that I am currently rearing for $5, and saved the remaining $5 with the village's local saving group, where the other 25 members each save $5 every week. These savings will be used for one of four future projects, one of which is to build a large house for my family."

"I sell charcoal for a living though on small scale and my husband works as a carpenter to support our family, my husband also assists with the market searching in Mariakani for the charcoal that I make. We are blessed with three children though still young. The little income we get from our hustling which is $ 15 a week, we spend on taking care of our family but still not enough. On many occasions, we are normally forced to sleep hungry due to a lack of capital to buy foodstuffs but not occasionally because of unreliable income. When the Give Directly staff came to our home and reveal to us that we were to be beneficiaries of their transfers, I was very excited, I said to myself that God has remembered my family once again. I was grateful for the transfer as I spent $ 5 on food, just to make sure that my children had enough food that day. Currently, we are experiencing harsh weather conditions due to a prolonged drought of about 3 years which led to a deficiency in food and the death of livestock in the village. Secondly, I spent $ 15 to pay my son's fees to help prevent him from being sent home. Finally, I thought of buying four chickens at $ 1 for rearing. I thought of starting a chicken-rearing project because it is less costly to maintain and I will sell some once they multiply to get money to support my family in terms of school fees."