"It was around 8 AM when I was at the farm watering the vegetables when a message notification popped in. I was anxious and decided to check who had sent a message at that time of the day. I could not believe what I saw, it was an Mpesa message from GiveDirectly. Due to the happiness that I had, I jumped up and down like a baby. I later chose to go home and shared the news with the rest of my family members."

"I'm a mother of seven living with my children in the village while my husband lives in Mombasa town where he works as a water vender. I'm not sure how much he makes from his business, but he normally sends me 500 KES biweekly. This is quite too low considering that I have three children attending grade school paying 2600 KES per academic term, and I still have seven of them to feed. I have a small two roomed that I share with six of my children, and every night we have to spread several gunny bags on the floor to be used by four of us as the only traditional bed we own can only accommodate three. Getting this money will ease that because I already have a plan to save up my money and buy beddings first at around 12000 KES, then later on I'll also renovate and expand my house at 25000 KES."

"Water scarcity in our area has been the main challenge and I have desired to encounter this menace. To solve this problem, I plan to spend my first transfer to buy some storage water tanks as well as install water pipes in my home. This will provide water for my household use and also to sell to the general public and earn income. The second transfer will help me to purchase 3 doors for my house which at the moment is open. Thus, this will change my livelihood, a transformation that I have desired for a long time."

"The village my family of four is living has been hit with adverse drought because we received very little rains since last year. This has caused shortage of water in the water pans within the village. We have to walk about one kilometer to the nearest water source which is contaminated and not safe for human consumption. Receiving this money would mean I buy a 3000 litres tank at a cost 3500 KES which I will use it to harvest rain water during rain seasons. This would solve the perennial water shortage problem and the pain my family undergoes in searching for water. I will also spend 15000 KES to renovate my house which is in poor condition especially the walls. The rest of the money will be spent on school fees and food for the family."

"Receiving this money will enable us to achieve our ambition of purchasing a dairy cow of our own. We are blessed with 2 boys who are still young and depend on milk for their proper growth and development. The cow we have at the moment is not ours, it belongs to my brother-in-law and he had shown the intention of selling it but we implore him to allow us up to the time when we can purchase our own. In our society, not owning a cow is highly frowned upon, we are so disgraced about the situation since we have no money to purchase one.We are so elated that at last, our dream of owning a dairy cow will come to pass with the help of Give Directly. We intend to purchase a dairy cow worth KES 30000 and use the rest of the money to buy a water tank."

"I feel I am one of the most undervalued humans in this area. I feel I have lost my self-respect due to how dilapidated my house is. It has been 7 months since the roof of my house was ripped off by a windstorm. I tried to mend it but due to insufficient funds, I only covered half of the roof. Together with my 5 children, I have been exposed to adverse weather effects. It recently rained and water was all over the house. Dampness can seriously cause life-threatening diseases. Repairing my roof is my current priority. Through the money I will be getting, I will purchase 8 pieces of iron sheets. Once I renovate the shelter, I will be very happy because my children will be free from any form of infection."

"The past year, I planted watermelon as a trial. When I harvested and sold, I was excited to plant again but we were hit by drought. Now that we have some rain, I want to venture into farming again. This money will help me buy seeds and I am grateful. I could add poultry farming too and the returns I hope will help me start a business that will sustain my son and I."

"It was 8 am and I had gone to the river to fetch water for the cow to drink when suddenly I heard my phone ringing hence notifying me of a new message. I stopped to check what it could all be about. I was surprised when I found out that it was an SMS saying that I had received KES 55000 in my mobile money account that GiveDirectly had earlier promised us. I was so happy on seeing this. I hurriedly finished what I was doing and I went back home. I shared the good news with my wife when I got home and she was so happy too on hearing about it. We thanked God because we now knew that we were going to be able to fulfill the plans that we had made."

"I was very happy in the last two months as my business was doing great and I was even able to comfortably afford life. Over here we live in a semi arid area where we do not even grow a lot of crops and so having money is vital because everything has a price tag including water. In that month of March I made good sales especially from charcoal and so I was able to get most of my need and take care of my family."

"Receiving this money means a better house for me. This is because the current house I reside in with my grandchildren is old, the wall is falling off and water seeps from the roof during rainy seasons. I will use KES 30000 to renovate my house and this will create favorable living conditions for my family. I will further use KES 10000 for medication because I am suffering from hypertension for over 10 years now. The remaining amount of transfers will be invested in my grandchild's education."