"I spent KES 40,000 on purchasing a five-month in-calf heifer. This was our priority as a family since we buy milk daily and this is so costly for us. We are a family of six and we spent an average of KES 100 per day on milk. This is a real struggle for us since we do not have a steady source of income. We rely on small businesses and scale farming to earn some daily income. My spouse does cereal business while I do farming at home. The money that we get daily from this is small and it is a struggle to purchase milk daily. Owing a dairy cow has given us hope that we will cut the daily cost of buying milk when it reproduces in the next few months. We will get enough milk for the family and sell the rest to earn an income to meet other basic household needs. The remaining amount of money we spent on food, clothes and other basic needs that we were missing at home. I am so grateful because GiveDirectly has enabled me to fulfil my dream of owning a dairy cow."

"The daily purchase of milk for my family of six has been so expensive that we sometimes go for an entire week without buying. After spending the entire transfer on the goals we had, I am glad that the outcome is impressive and motivating. At the moment, I have a new goal to build my savings gradually towards buying a dairy cow. Apart from the farming projects I have, I have been working hard on the casual labor that has always come in handy while buying foodstuff for my children. Even though the project may take longer, I hope it will finally come to fruition."

"The organization lifted a heavy burden off my back the minute I received my transfer. In my opinion, GiveDirectly has empowered everyone in my village. Thus transforming our living standards. People have built houses, others bought cows and many more. I have not seen any loophole in GiveDirectly's work."

"After receiving the transfer, I ventured into livestock farming and opened a retail shop that earned my daily income. I am still doing free-range grazing and my new goal is to construct a new cow shed with storage space to keep the livestock feeds. I will also buy a chaff cutter in the future to ease the preparation of the feeds for my dairy cows. I have been saved from the business proceeds and the sale of milk, which I am hopeful will be enough to start the project in six months."

"I bought an heifer for KSh. 30,000 using part of the second transfer. Apart from the cow being a long term reminder of what GiveDirectly did for us as a family, this will in the future also be a source of milk and income from the sale of excess milk produced. I had also planned to start a poultry project and had even bought eight chicken for rearing and some few materials for construction of a chicken house, but at that time, I was expecting a baby. Just before I could proceed with the project, I went into delivery where I had to undergo an caesarian section. Some of the transfers I had planned to use went into payment of the hospital bills and drugs. I used the rest of the transfer on food and other necessities needed while recuperating at home. I am glad the that the transfer came at the time that was really needed. Thank you GiveDirectly!"

"family of five needs approximately three litres of milk for a day's use. However, considering how expensive this commodity has been for the past few months, I have only been buying one litre, which I could hardly afford just for breakfast. When I got the second transfer, I decided to buy a lactating dairy cow for KSh. 55,000. The instant relieve I immediately after purchasing the dairy cow is spending zero shillings on milk as I currently milk approximately two litres a day. I am also happy that this cow will calve soon and I will have more than enough milk for my family. My plan is to sell the excess milk once it calves and use the proceeds to pay my children's school fees. What a joy I have!"

"Yes, I have a new goal of starting a small business. To be more specific, I have plans of starting a shoe selling business. Starting up a business will make life for us much more affordable and will relief me from the daily casual work that I do to make ends meet. Having bought a dairy cow from my first transfer and built a new house from my second transfer, my energies shall now be focused on starting this business. It may be a little hard for me to actualize this soon since we still rely entirely on casual jobs to earn a living. From the casual work that we do, we earn almost just enough to feed our family of three. We hope that with the dairy cow that we bought, we can be able to sell the surplus milk once the production is up and use the money to help start this business. I am however eternally grateful for all the support that I got from GiveDirectly and how it has changed my life in a positive way."

"Before receiving the second transfer, I had planned to invest in livestock. Therefore, I bought three goats for KES 12000.00. I did this after seeing how the climate was. It was a dry season and cows could not cope with drought, unlike goats which are somehow drought resistant. Thereafter, I constructed a kichen for KES 12000.00 because I used to cook outside of my house and it was troublesome during rainy days. Therefore, I thought it was wise to build the kitchen. Currently, even if it rains day and night, I have no problem because I have a nice and well covered cooking area. I also bought a table for KES 1650.00 and five plastic chairs for KES 3500.00 because I had no chairs at all. It was shameful to welcome visitors and offer them some pieces of logs to seat on. I am now happy and comfortable welcoming friends to my home because I have some chairs to offer them. Since my children had no bed, I bought them one and a mattress for KES 15500.00. I am now happy seeing them sleeping comfortably, unlike before GiveDirectly aided me. For entertainment and news purposes, I bought a television in a hire-purchase. I paid a deposit of KES 5000.00 and I am paying a daily installment of KES 95.00 for three years. Lastly, I bought 12 buckets of 20 liters each for storing water for KES 1800.00. I did this because fresh water in our area is not reliable. By so doing, it is an assurance of having enough water if all the 12 buckets are full."

"After utilizing the second transfer, I opted to take a livestock investment line. Since I bought two cows using the second transfer, my aim is to buy more cows if I get some money. The reason of investing in livestock is because, they are secured sources of money. If need arises, selling an animal to sort it out is a quicker way. I am happy that the market price of livestock has increased in our area hence, the demand is very high."

"Even though I am newly married and have no children yet, buying a daily liter of milk has been straining because we both don't have reliable sources of income. I am grateful that the second transfer solved this problem when I bought a lactating Friesian cow at KES 35000. Since then, we are enjoying a plentiful supply of milk, both for our household use and surplus for sale. I also bought a sack and a half of the dry maize grains used for foodstuff. Buying sifted flour from the shop has been so expensive that we had to buy maize in bulk, which would take us months before exhausting. I also bought some pieces of ceiling boards to complete the interior furnishing of my new house at KES 5000 and spent the remaining amount on buying other household consumables that were missing."