"I am a widow and I have been taking care of six of my children ever since my husband passed. It hasn't been an easy journey as I usually do any kind of manual jobs such working in construction sites, farms and fetching water to provide for my family. For the longest time, I have been wanting to roof my house using iron sheets as I have always been forced to replace the grass roof every two years. Due to the prolonged drought, it hasn't been easy to get grass and sometimes we end up being rained on because I cannot afford to buy grass to replace the rotten one. When I was enrolled into program, I decided to join a sacco where I can be savings KES 1000 monthly so that I can be able to buy iron sheets after a while. I saved KES 1000 in the sacco and spend the balance to buy enough food to take us for a month."

"Receiving this transfer from GiveDirectly means I will fulfil my wishes of renovating my house and buying enough food for my family. The walls of my house have multiple cracks endangering the life of whoever might be inside. In addition to this, the roof leaks whenever it rains making it hard for anyone inside. Renovating my house with concrete walls will cost me KES 50,000. I will later use KES 20,000 to buy enough food and water for my family. Doing all this will make me happy."

"Recently, well wishers visited my village and constructed a water pan. It is now ready and I hope I will no longer travel longer distances to fetch water."

"The biggest challenge I am facing currently is lack of clean water for domestic consumption. I can only manage 20Litre jerrican of water per day because I have to walk for longer distances every morning to get water. Imagine I only take birth thrice a week something that is not healthy in as far as hygiene is concerned."

"It was a normal day and usually am in charge of raising livestock. I was miles away in the forest seeking for a secure place where the animals would graze and have water.I had a beep and I jumped out of excitement because of the money received .I came home happy and planning on how I would spend on my cash"

"It was in the morning and I was at home when I heard a message tone from my phone .I tried to look at the phone but am unable to read or write.I waited anxiously for my daughter who had gone to fetch water to help me understand the message. All of sudden when she looked at the message she smiled at me and told me of the received cash ,I was excited and instructed her to prepare herself and withdraw the cash."

"Building an Iron roofed house is the biggest difference since I received the transfers. This has led to us accessing clean rainwater. Additionally, my daughters no longer borrow a place to sleep. Secondly, the transfers have enabled us to buy bean seeds and plow land using a tractor. All these we could not afford before due to poor earnings from daily casual labor. Additionally, my kids are now healthy and happier because they have access to adequate food. Unlike before when we used to eat little or no food due to the availability of casual labor."

"My life as a widow has been very challenging. I am the sole breadwinner of my 6 children. I earn a living by making and selling charcoal. Making the charcoal is very long (3 to 4 days) and tedious with very low income. The demand for charcoal has recently dropped, hence making it difficult to find a potential client. I am forced to buy food on credit, in the event I cannot sell any charcoal. We have frequently slept hungry together with my children due to a lack of money to buy food. The problems I faced forced me to buy a goat worth KES 2500 as an investment for the future. Once it multiplies in number, I will sell some and use the money to educate my children. Besides buying the goat, I spent the remaining amount to buy food for my family after spending 2 days without food surviving on water and wild fruits."

"It is seven years since I moved into the house I live in. The poles I used in building the house have weakened over the years and the house is in ruins. The roof of my house is partly made of rusted iron sheets while the other is grass thatched “Makuti”. When it rains, the rainwater sips through the leaking into my house, destroying my property and making it hard to sleep during the night. A portion of the house is steadily sinking into the ground after a heavy downpour. I have always wanted to repair the house, but because of the low income from my casual job selling charcoal, I have failed. My husband, who is of age, cannot help because he no longer works. Therefore, when I received my Transfer, I spent the KES 3000 on buying three pieces of iron sheets. My plan is to buy so that I can have a complete changeover of the roof."

"We are currently facing a prolonged draught that has taken longer than two years and over that period of time, we haven't been able to harvest anything. This isn't a good condition for a subsistence farmer as we now have to buy a lot more foodstuffs even the ones we could've gotten from the farm. We're forced to buy water from water pans as well as vegetables and grains fro the market. In this case when one doesn't have money then you can not survive the village."