"The biggest difference in my daily life is the ability to construct a house while still handling the matter of school fees for my children. The school fees need had rendered me unable to construct the structures and house we needed at my homestead. I was focusing all my resources on educating my two children in various universities and in secondary schools. But the money from GiveDirectly gave the resources with which I was able to build a house. I am now happy to say that we are comfortable at home even as we struggle to educate our children."

"I have really witnessed a big change in our diet since I started receiving these transfers. This is because my income from casual work and farming was not able to help me meet my family needs and demand sufficiently. I would strain as the head of the house because I had a lot to deal with financially. I would have to forgo some meals just to ensure we have other needs in the family-like medication, school fees and others. Since I started receiving these transfers, I have been buying food on a monthly basis which has helped in reducing my daily expenditure. We have never missed any meal since I started buying food in bulk once a month because of GD transfers."

"The biggest difference in my daily life is the piece of land that I have been able to buy. This is something that I had been thinking about for years but the little income that I got from my odd casual jobs could not allow me to save up and buy a piece of land. I feel so happy and proud that I have finally been enabled by the transfers to actualize this dream. I am looking forward to building a house in it. I was also able to pay school fees for my son who has just joined secondary school."

"The biggest difference in my life is that I am happy that my son has his own house to study and sleep in. For quite a long time, my son has been sleeping in my neighbor's son's house since we had not built him his own due to financial constraints. Since he had to walk to this house every night, it always troubled that he was exposing himself to insecurity and on top of that he never got ample time to study. I am happy he can now study with less disturbance. I was also able to pay my daughter's high school fees. I solely depended on the proceeds from the sale of milk to pay the fees but it was always barely enough to pay the school fees and still meet other needs. I am grateful to GiveDirectly for giving us a helping hand!"

"I used part of my first transfer to complete our newly built house and used the remainder to buy a dairy cow. We had always wanted to build a new house for the family especially now that we do not have the pressure of paying school fees for our children and these transfers were super helpful to us in fulfilling this dream. We also bought the dairy cow because we did not have one of our own and we ended up spending a lot of money to buy milk at the expense of other basic household needs. We feel we are going to be greatly relieved once the cow starts producing milk."

"I spent most of my second transfer to build a new house and used the remaining amount to pay school fees for my son. For a long time, I have been thinking of building a new house since the one that we were living in was so small and a little bit more uncomfortable for us as a family. Receiving GiveDirectly's transfers provided an opportunity for me to actualize these plans. I have since bought building materials from these transfers and I am looking forward to completing my new house and moving in with my family."

"I spent a larger portion of my first transfer on buying some building materials such as building poles, some pieces of iron sheets, timber and some nails. This was purposely for the construction of a new house. My previous house was very small it could not accommodate us all. I later cleared school fees for my children since they have been staying home for weeks because of the huge school fees balances. Some had even dropped out of school. The remaining amount of money I bought enough foodstuffs for my family and we are now taking three meals a day, like the rest. Previously we used to take a single meal or go without."

"The biggest difference in my daily life is that I cleared the fee arrears of KES 40000 for my children and they are now comfortably in school and college. They are no longer sent home to collect school fees as usual. I depend on the casual jobs in the village to earn an income, paying school fees on time was a big challenge for me. My children could stay at home for a longer period of time and this was affecting their performance. I'm so happy now because I have peace of mind and I have devoted much of my time on my daily activities to generate some income to pay next term school fee."

"After building a new kitchen using the first transfer, I had to renovate the main house. I fixed my door and the wall and bought new chairs for use. Previously I had one small chair which was quite small and whenever I had visitors, I was forced to borrow some chairs from my neighbors. The biggest difference, therefore, is the fact that my house looks neat and I can welcome visitors comfortably without necessarily having to borrow chairs around. I am glad we live a more comfortable life now compared to before, more so that in a few weeks, my son would have his own room ready. I am also glad that my daughter won't be sent home for school fees giving her ample time to study. This, as a parent, gives me joy."

"Currently, I am focussed on paying school fees for my children. It is my priority now because I would also want to give the best for my children while in school. I expect them to perform well in their examinations and they can only achieve this when they have ample time to study. Paying their fees arrears will mean they will not be sent home for fees arrears as before and will give them the ample time to study."