"When I separated from my husband a few years ago due to irreconcilable differences, my goal was to focus on educating my two children and giving them the best that I could afford. I opened a local grocery store where I have been selling roasted chicken alongside. Due to many responsibilities which came after taking my first born to high school, I have been struggling to sustain the business as 90% of the profit would go to school fees and basic needs. Ever since I started receiving the transfers, life has eased a bit for me as I committed to adding stock worth KES 1000 monthly which has lead to increased in income. For the last three months, I have been adding stock worth KES 1000 monthly and spending the balance to pay school fees. I'm nolonger straining with school fees as I used to before and my daughter has had easy time in school and she's able to concentrate and focus on her studies."

"On receiving the second transfer, our household plans were well set and we already had a fixed mind and wasn't hard for me in distributing the received amount in the projects I had. I had to set aside KES 35000 which will be useful in settling school fees for my daughter who is yet to join her 8th grade. I am thankful that I received this money when I needed it the most to facilitate the transition of my child from the free public primary school to form one where I will be required to pay a lot. In addition, I am planning to spend the remaining amount once my daughter has gone to school on the purchase of foodstuff and clothing for my family of four. Initially, I had been dependent on farming but in the recent past, farming has been unproductive forcing everyone within the village to buy all foodstuff from the nearby markets. I will also consider bringing in some chicken that will be helpful in the daily collection of eggs that will, in turn, be an additional source of income."

"I spent part of my most recent transfers on buying livestock which include a goat and a chicken. My passion is in livestock keeping which are living assets and are readily available in case of a financial need. My expectation is that they will multiply and sell the offspring to settle my financial needs. Owning livestock is one of the best investments that one can have in our poverty-stricken region. I spent the remaining amount of the transfers on buying foodstuffs such as maize flour which could take us some weeks. This ensured that my family could now take three meals a day unlike the other months when we could skip meals to save on expenditure."

"From the time I began receiving my transfer, the biggest difference in my life is having bought a chicken. The ones I previously had died and I had been wondering how I would begin raising some since I have not been able to get sufficient money to cater for my family needs as well as family development. Now I have the chicken, I look forward to raising more. In addition, I never had food, but now I have what can last my family for 5 consecutive days."

"Receiving the KES 3000 from GiveDirectly positively impacted my life and that of my family during these tough times. I am married to one lovely husband and together we have four children, two of whom are in school. I am a stay at home wife ensuring the home is tidy all day and my family is well looked after. My husband is currently employed at a nearby company where he receives monthly stipends to support us. From the amount I received, I was able to buy three chicken at KES 1500 adding to the one I previously had and now I can practice poultry farming comfortably. The remaining amount of KES 1500, I bought food for the whole house as what was earlier on there was completely finished. Thanks to the funds, we now have food for one month."

"Last year a project by a different organisation was introduced to us back on the village. The organisation wanted to help us the villagers who were interested in poultry farming to start poultry business. It included paying a certain amount of money in instalments over a period of time and they only required one to have a hen house before they gave you an amount of twenty chicken which were made of two cocktails and eighteen hens who were about two months old. I wanted to be a part of the project so after receiving the funds I went ahead and made a chicken coop so that I could finally receive the hens. I used my entire transferring trying to construct this chicken house and ended up using all the KES 3,000 that I had received."

"At the moment, I have not yet spent any coins from my recent transfer. I am planning to spend it on re-starting a poultry farming project. I am a mixed farmer and previously, I domesticated about 30 chickens. Unfortunately, most of them died due while a few who survived, I sold and generated for me KES 7,500. Poultry farming is a very lucrative business. From this project, I will be able to earn an additional income when I sell some to raise school fees for my four children who are currently in school."

"Both my spouse works on people's farms for pay. The much we can make in a day is KES 200 each which is not enough to meet the needs of our family of 9. I am therefore thinking of investing in poultry rearing since they do not require much capital. Besides, they are the best way to get fast cash because they reproduce faster with numerous young ones and their demand is high too. I, therefore, bought two chickens at KES 1000 for rearing. The remaining KES 2000 I spent on some of the food items enough to push my family for a while before going back to the market for more."

"I am a housewife and all through my life, I have been fully dependent on my husband for support. Although I have been longing to run personal projects in a bid to support my spouse, this has not been because I do not have my source of capital. I am glad that when I received my second transfer, I was able to set aside KES 1000 which I used to begin raising chicken. At the moment, I have two chickens. This is a project that will allow me to begin keeping goats. As a result, I shall equally be a contributor to the development of my family. I also bought food worth KES 700 from the transfer. During that week, as a family, we were hard-pressed down because my husband's wages had been delayed. The rest of the transfer helped me to obtain books for my 5 children who are school going. Thanks to GiveDirectly."

"Not having a permanent job sometimes brings a moment of uncertainty when receiving payments. I am an ECDE teacher and I get paid by the Parents Teachers Association every once in a while. I am married to one husband who works as a nurse at our nearby clinic assisting the sick in the society. Together we have two young children whom we live with. The KES 3000 received was put to good use, as I was able to transfer KES 1500 to my local Chama account increasing my savings for future use. Food in the house was finished and with KES 550 I added some to at least last us for three days ensuring we do not sleep hungry. I spent a further KES 450 to buy one chicken with the hope that it will lay eggs and hatch more chicks. The balance of KES 550, I bought school shoes for my children as schools were almost reopening."