"I have a daughter who had completed her secondary education and had not yet joined college due to a lack of money to pay her school fees. This made her very frustrated and started doing manual jobs such as fetching water for other people and working on other people’s farms for pay. My husband was dismissed from his job working as a shopkeeper in Mombasa after the Corvid pandemic struck the country. He currently does not have a job and I am the sole breadwinner of the family. I am engaged in a small business selling samosa and fried potatoes in a nearby school. I earn very little from my business, which is enough to feed the family, and left with nothing to save or pay school fees for the children. Therefore, when I received my transfer, I spent KES 2000 paying school fees for my daughter to join college and study a tailoring course. This course will sharpen her skills and hopefully be self-reliant by starting a business. In addition, I spent KES 1000 on buying food for my family. It was becoming a challenge to cater to all the family's needs. Sometimes we slept hungry because I lacked the money to buy food."

"After my husband passed away, 15 years ago, my life took a turn for the worst. He was the sole breed winner and forced me to do manual jobs to earn a living and support my family. I worked on people’s farms for pay, sold firewood, and made charcoal for sale. Currently, I am of age and can no longer work, hence depend on my son fully to take care of me. My son does not have a well-paying job and works as a casual laborer, building houses for people. He earns very little enough to buy one meal each day. On bad days when he does not get a job, I sleep hungry and survive on water. Therefore, when I received my transfer, I bought a goat worth KES 2000 and 3 chickens as an investment for the future. Once this livestock multiplies, I will sell some money and take care of myself. Having a source of income generated from the livestock will help me pay some bills that my son cannot pay."

"Receiving this money means a new start for my farming practices. I am a small scale farmer and I mostly plant vegetables for sale in the local market. In my farming I usually wish that I could integrate irrigation so that it can help me during the dry season. I usually do not make any money in my farming during the season and I wish I had a water pan to help me practice irrigation. I will therefore use the transfers to dig a water pan and develop an irrigation system in the garden. This will ensure that I can carry on with farming activities no matter the season."

""When I received my transfer, I want to build a decent house for my family and secondly I want to invest into agriculture. The house we are living in presently belongs to my brother-in-law who now lives in Grand Bassa. When it rains the water leaks on our things and destroy them"."

"Able to acquire the construction materials after receiving the transfer is the biggest in my life. I am positive that I will be able to fulfill my dream of owning a permanent house. In addition, I am happy that I have enough water for use after storing them in the tanks."

"After the complete construction of my new house, just a month before GiveDirectly visited our village, I hoped to enhance both the interior and exterior parts alongside bringing in other complementary pieces of equipment that would improve our living standards. With this in mind, we considered purchasing a large water tank worth KES 21000 that has so far been collecting and holding rainwater conveyed from the roof. It is with gratitude that the frequency of visiting the community well to fetch water has reduced. I also cleared the debt I had with my brother, who had lent me KES 25000 when I was taking my son to the university. The debt had been a burden to my family for quite a long time as my brother had pressed hard after I failed to honor the payback dates I had given him. In addition, I spent KES 5000 on cutting down some trees I had and sawing them in preparedness to erect a new kitchen in the future. The last bit of my transfers was helpful in purchasing household goods that included foodstuff, new bedding, toiletries, and also a new piece of furniture."

"I am an epileptic man and living with this condition comes with a fair share of challenges. Every time I get attacks which creates brain disorder making me fall down. I leave with fear that I might get such attacks when I go to fetch water which may lead to disastrous harm such as death. My wife could not stay with me and she left when she discovered that I was a useless man who could not provide."

"It's been a rainy season for about two months now and I'm so happy about that. It all means that we're able to get water nearby from a water pan and also continue farm work as we've been planting a lot. Food prices have also been low due to the fact that vegetables have been flooding the markets. Generally when the rainy season is on life is a little easier."

"I work as a casual laborer, building houses for other people, fetching water for other people, and working on other people’s farms. The challenge I face working on these jobs is low payment (KES 200) and mostly on a short contract lasting a day or two. This makes it hard to plan thoroughly for the income and often I cannot provide food for my family, forcing us to buy food on credit. I have accumulated lots of debt that I cannot pay and, as a result; I have lost my dignity in the community. I am glad that when I received my transfer; I spent KES 1700 on buying food for my family. We hardly had any food in the house and we spent three days without eating food and could not buy food on credit due to the already accumulated debt. Besides buying food, I spent KES 1500 on paying school fees for my children, who were on the verge of being sent home due to school fee arrears. Finally, I spent KES 1000 on buying new pairs of school uniforms for my two children whose uniforms were torn and worn out."

"Both my husband and I are casual laborers, earning very little from our respective jobs. I make and sell charcoal while my husband sells water for his boss in Mombasa and is paid monthly. I struggle a lot in my business because making charcoal is tedious and generates low income due to the low demand by the consumers. A bag of charcoal goes for KES 500 and it takes up to one or four days for the charcoal to be ready. I take up to three months before I can sell a bag of charcoal because of the delays in transporting the charcoal to town. My husband experienced delayed payments from his boss, making it difficult to cater to the essential needs (buying food, clothes, and medication) of the family. When I received my transfer, I spent KES 1000 on buying food for the family because we had exhausted the food stock. We had no money to buy more stock, forcing us to sleep hungry occasionally and survive on one meal per day. In addition, I paid school fees for my three children, who were on the verge of being sent home to pick up school fees. Paying the school fees ensured they remained in school and did not interrupt their studies."