"We are faced with drought, no rains meaning we can't do farming, so we hardly get three meals a day. Our livestock also cannot get enough grass and water and they don't produce milk, and most of them are dying, which is a big loss as we have invested so much on them. We depend on them to resell them, but no one is ready to buy during market days, because everyone is not stable financially."

"Currently we are living in tough economic times, getting three meals a day Is very challenging, most days we sleep hungry. We also have to walk long distances to get water for washing, cooking and feeding our domestic animals."

"Shortage of water and food are the biggest challenges that I am currently facing in my life. This is because of the ongoing drought in our area. It has been over 3 years since we had ample rain. This has been the biggest stumbling block in achieving education for my children because most of the money I make from my tailoring business(KES 6000 per month) goes into buying food and water."

"I depend on charcoal business which is a straneous work and my body is growing old (49 years old) for heavy jobs.This made me to buy a cow to keep. Getting drinking water needs to walk for a distance of 1 kilometer away from my compound. I spend alot of my time looking for hay and folder for my cow. My cow produces 5 litres of milk every day. It depends on the amount of food given to the cow and therefore getting more hay and folder to feed my cow is the challenge I am currently facing."

"Food insecurity is a challenge in my house. I have to sell charcoal inorder to feed my family. We have no drinking water in the area. My 6 children are in primary school and fee payment is also a challenge to me but the unattended medical checkup for my son who is unable to speak nor hear is the main source of stress in my mind which gives me a sleepless nights."

"I am a widow and the village elder of my area. My work revolves around maintaining peace and harmony. Besides I have a family of five children who are in school. My main economic activity is charcoal burning. However, most of the time I find myself in the chief's office solving disputes than the time I spend economically. This has made me rely on the fines charged to the disputing parties to buy food and other basic needs for my children which is not enough to meet the basic needs. The share I get from the fine charged is KES 200. My ambition has been to start water selling business in the village in order to earn a living. I will use KES 35000 KES to install tap water and buy a 5000 litres tank which I will store water for sale. I will them use the remaining cash transfers to pay schools for my children."

"Buying a water tank has been my biggest goal. This is because the stream is far away, at the same time our area is a semi-arid place. Thus upon receiving my transfer I used KES 25,000 in purchasing a water tank. I then used KES 7200 on in buy a sofa sets seats, then finally I used the remaining amount on painting and doing the finishing touches on my house. I am so relieved that I was able to purchase a tank that I had longed to have, though I was incapable due to financial constraints since I depend on casual jobs which are not reliable."

"I spent part of the first transfer on buying building materials such as bricks, sand, cement, and gravel KES 30000. This was for the renovation of my house because it was a temporary one with muddy walls which had holes all over. During the rainy seasons, it was hectic because I had to seek shelter elsewhere. In addition to that I bought building poles, and iron sheets which were for the construction of a pit latrine, the initial one was almost collapsing and I was so worried about our health because none of my neighbors had one and we would be forced to go to the bush and being infected with waterborne diseases. With the remaining amount of money, I bought foodstuffs for my family and settled all the debts."

"I just graduated from high school and I bet you it was not an easy journey at all. My mother who is a window was the bread winner of the family and she was doing casual jobs especially in the farms and fetching water to provide for me and my three siblings. At some point, her immunity became weak and she couldn't do manual jobs anymore and my uncle had to take over the responsibilities. Since he has a family to provide for, he did his best but couldn't fully provide for the five of us. I would be in and out of school because of school fees be but thankfully, I managed to graduate although with fees arrears. My goal was to clear the arrears so that I can be provided with the certificate to enable me look for jobs and later join collage. I spend KES 2000 to redeem the arrears which now stands at KES 5500 and spend the balance to buy food."

"Receiving this money means I will be able to build a house. I live in one house that doubles up as a kitchen and a bedroom.I will spend about KES 50,000 on this and also buy a water tank to collect rain water, at about KES 30,000 .With the remaining KES 20,000, I will start a poultry keeping business to support me as a source of income.Ibwill spend what I make on daily household needs. Ultimately, I aim at growing income from selling eggs upto KES 2000 per day but for a start, with about 20 chicken that I will buy as soon as I receive the transfers, I will be making at least KES 1400 per week."