"I was born in Mnazimumwenga village in Kilifi county in 1973, my parents did not have money to take me to school. I would help my mother with chores such as washing clothes, going to the market, and fetching water for the family. My mother passed on years later and I was left with my father who took care of me with my five siblings, three sisters, and two brothers. Years later I got married but unfortunately, we separated from my husband after the death of my two children who succumbed to illness. I moved out of my matrimonial house and rented a place where I sell fast food snacks such as tea, fried potatoes, and porridge. I started the business with $ 50 and since then I have been making a profit of $3 a day on a good day and $2 on a bad day. Since I started receiving this money, I have been stocking up my fast food business. In the last transfer that I got in September, I used the money to stock up the business which cost bought cooking oil at $3, potatoes at 8.5, and flour at $6, The rest of the money was used to buy iron sheet at $6.5 that I used to rebuild a section that was leaking at the restaurant, $4 for buying chicken that I would sell them for a profit and maize flour for $2 for my consumption. Since I increased my stock I have been accumulating a profit of $5 a day where now I save for runny days"

"With a family of four children, lack of employment, and drought. It has been a challenge to meet the basic needs of a family of six members. As soon as I received the funds, I used $14 to buy three chicken layers and saved $10 on a monthly rotational savings group, The remaining amount was used to buy food for the next three days since the household had run out of food."

"My husband works casual jobs as the main source of our daily income. I help out working part-time as a charcoal burner. Our earnings are not much to support a family of four members. My biggest challenge has been providing food and paying school fees for my children. I spent my transfer of $12 for food, paid school fees arrears with $ 12, and bought two chicken layers with the remaining amount."

"I have heavily relied on farming as my main source of income for the last three years. My only source of income was disrupted when the drought started because I was unable to continue working on the farm. I currently work in the village as a casual worker selling charcoal. My meager income prevents me from meeting all of my basic needs (buying food and buying clothes). When I got my second transfer, I decided to use the funds to buy some chickens to raise. I spent $3 on three ducks and $4 on four hens. The primary reason for investing the funds in purchasing poultry was to establish a secondary source of income through the sale of the chickens and eggs once they multiply. I finally bought food with the $5 that was left. My home's food supply was almost gone, so it was wise to buy more to keep me from going hungry."

"I spent $6 of my recent transfer on buying two chickens. This has been my dream to have at least own one but I could not afford any at my own cost. I am now thankful and ambitious that in a few months to come I will have many of them which will enable me to achieve a lot. Additionally, I was able to save $15 for the merry-go-round chama. I believe that in six months to come I will have enough in my savings account and I will finally be granted a loan whereby I can purchase more assets that I have been longing to own. With the remaining $9, I bought foodstuffs for my family and other household needs."

"I spent $10 of my recent transfer on paying fees of KES for my four children who are in grades eight, five, three and two respectively. Clearing their fees on time has been a major challenge to me since I am a widow of sox who relies on small businesses ( burning and selling charcoal). I am therefore for this huge support from GiveDirectly because they have never missed any exams ever since the organisation came into our lives. I later bought three chickens at $10 which I am certain will increase in number within a short period. With the remaining amount of money, I have been buying food for my family which took us almost two weeks."

"I spent $8 of my recent transfer on paying fees for my two kids who are in grades two and three respectively. It has always been my prayer to see them going to school every morning but this was possible because of the high cost of living. The little earnings could sometimes not be enough to purchase basic needs like food. Additionally, I had to clear debt to a friend which has now set me free and I have peace of mind. To add to that, I bought two chickens for $10. I am so happy and thankful because I can at long last mention that I have an asset to rely on. I also used $6 to buy food and saved the remaining cash in case of any emergency that might occur."

"A year ago, I had six children in school who would keep me awake at night trying to figure out where their school fees were coming from. I was relieved when three of them completed their final exams, leaving the other three to continue. When GiveDirectly came in to help with the cash transfer, the burden of paying their school fees was further sliced in half. When I received the second transfer, I spent $20 on paying tuition for the three children who were then allowed to attend all classes without interruption until the end of the term. I also spent $7.5 on three chickens at $2.5 each, which I am currently rearing in the hopes of benefiting from their products in the future. I already had six other chickens, some with chicks, totaling 29 birds. Despite the fact that I have been earning money from the sale of their eggs, my current priority is to allow them to reproduce and then sell them and use the proceeds to purchase goats in the future. I used the remaining $2.5 to buy groceries for my family of eight."

"I spent part of my recent transfer on paying fees of $10 for my daughter who is in her third year of secondary school. She was about to be sent home because of the arrears and I was so worried considering I did not have even a single coin in my account. I am happy she is now in school studying without any distractions. To add to that, I bought a chicken which serves as an asset that I can readily depend on. With the remaining amount of money, I have been buying food for my six family members."

"I used the first $30 to buy iron sheets for constructing a new chicken house and used another $30 to buy food and other basic household needs for my family. The most recent amount of $30 was used to pay school fees for one of my children who is in her secondary level of education. I am a father of six children with four already in school and two joining soon. Meeting all my family's needs with odd casual jobs of construction work has been really tough for us as a family and without GiveDirectly, things would have fallen out of hand already. When I started receiving payments from GiveDirectly, I started investing them in poultry keeping project but just when I had made a huge investment in it, the chicken were attacked by a strange disease that killed almost all of them. I have had enough time to reflect on what I did not do well in that business and right now I am saving some other cash before I could start up the project again. My wife operates a small business that help s is meet some of our family's needs as well. The situation is still very tough but we are looking forward to better days ahead. We are so lucky to have been part of beneficiaries in this life changing program. We will always be indebted to GiveDirectly."