"Buying food is the biggest difference I have had since I started receiving the transfer. For a while now I have coped with many challenges, including sleeping hungry and sometimes surviving on water only. I am happy that the situation is different and I eat more regularly unlike before I received the funds."

"depend fully on my daughter to take care of the family (daughter and 4 grandchildren). At my age, I am very weak and no longer able to work. My daughter works on casual jobs such as fetching water and working on other people’s farms to earn a living. Her daily earnings from the job (KES 200 per day), are only enough to buy food for a day. The temporary nature of the jobs limits her from working daily. When this happens, we are left with nothing to eat and have to sleep on empty stomachs. When I received my transfer, I was very happy because I was going to reduce the heavy burden that my daughters bear on behalf of the family. I spent KES 2500 to buy 12 packets of maize flour, 2kgs of beans, and 2kg of sugar and vegetables for food. I later spent the remaining KES 500 on buying a hen as an investment for the future."

"My husband, who is the sole breadwinner of the family (husband, wife and three children) was involved in an accident and fractured his leg. For the past three weeks, he could not work and, as a result, I had to buy food on credit to feed my family. The condition worsened and together with my family, we spent three days without food surviving on water and raw wild fruits. When I received my first transfer, I spent KES 1000 in buying food for the family to ease the hunger situation that we were in. I spent KES 100 on buying detergents to wash dirty clothes and utensils that had accumulated for the past three weeks."

"We access water five kilometers from my home compound and we use motorbikes at a fee of 150 KES per trip. Receiving this money means assistance to me, I intend to open a water kiosk for home use and commercial use. I will buy water tanks for storage to sell at a higher price when the taps run dry. With the remaining amount I have three children still in primary school, I will save the money to take them to secondary school so that they can be independent in the future. I hope for a better tomorrow."

"My business has been down since the covid pandemic struck simply because of relying on it for the family's upkeep. I plan to restock the business by using KES 60,000, and KES 50,000 to purchase a water tank to reserve water since this area has a scarcity of water it will be the best idea too which will enable me to earn more coins."

"It was just a normal day conducting my normal chores of watering some vegetables in my compound when I received a message notification from my phone. It was a mobile money message confirming that I had received the agreed amount I was promised during registration. I was happy and stopped what I was doing to inform my wife and four children of the good news."

"I got a fracture on my leg in 2019 through an accident, which rendered me non-productive. Upon frequent hospital visits, the doctor advised me not to perform heavy tasks as that could worsen my recovery. As a norm, I used to fetch water from the water pan for household use but due to the fracture, I could no longer. Therefore, this drove my ambition to buy a water tank to harvest rainwater. Unfortunately, finances could not allow me to as my family of 3 depends on farming which sadly, had dropped in the past 3 years. I intend to use KES 25000 to install a water tank as well as use the rest of the transfers to pay school fees for my son at the university. I will be glad that my family will access clean water easily and my son will study without interruptions."

"In my opinion, Give Directly does tremendously well in giving out cash as a form of aid. Living in a poverty-stricken society like mine comes with so many needs, especially food, education, water, clothing, and shelter. Money is the perfect key to fulfilling all these necessities depending on individual preferences. By offering financial aid to people, Give Directly gives them a choice to decide on expenditures for themselves."

"When I got my first transfer from GiveDirectly, I felt so happy and thank Heaven for sending you people to our village. At that moment, I knew that my problems shall be over. My house was cold at night since it had no ceiling in it and also had no container for storing water."

"I used KES 1500 to purchase foodstuffs for my family that can take them for some time. I have saved 1500 for future use to purchase chicken for rearing. Their demand is usually high, and they do not need much capital. Besides, due to the current drought livestock would not be the best to keep because of the challenge of getting their feeds and water. I might consider raising goats later in the year once we have enough rain."