"I experience a lot of inadequacy of financial resources due to the fact that I do not have a reliable source of income. As I mentioned, I'm just a broker so it's never sure that I'm going to make money on a market day. And what makes it worse is the situation we have in the village where everything has a price tag including water. I would be very happy if I had some amount of money that I'm sure to receive every month so that I just work to top it up. Initially my wife also used to burn charcoal to eek out my income but she no longer has good health to continue with such physical jobs."

"My main occupation is livestock rearing and due to drought in the past one year, many cattle and goats died due to lack of pasture and water. I have been thinking of starting afresh my livestock business whereby on receiving this money I plan to buy 6 goats. This will be a source of income in the near future. I will spend 20,000 KES on this business. The rest of the money will be spent on buying food for my family of three."

"Receiving this money means a boost to my income. Iam a salonist by professional. I have intended to expand my salon business so that I can get more profit. Currently, I am earning KES 500 per day because I lack most of the equipment needed. Therefore, I plan to use KES 20000 to boost my business and will be assured of getting a profit of KES 1500 per day. Due to the drought situation in our area, I am also planning to use KES 30000 to buy a water tank (10,000 liters). This will enable me to store water for both commercial and domestic use, and I am assured of getting KES 500 per day."

"The greatest challenge I am currently facing is water scarcity. Just picture how tiresome it is to walk for four kilometers to only fetch 20 liters of water and also use your head to carry the container."

"We've been living in a small one-room house that I have been sharing with my two children. We had no privacy as parents and people would also know everything that we own at a glimpse. I am happy that with the transfer, I was able to spend KES 27000 building a kitchen for my family. My children will be sleeping in the kitchen while we sleep in our current house and enjoy our privacy. Apart from this, I spent KES 3000 on the purchase of a small water tank to use in storing water for domestic use, the same amount on a three-seater seat since I did not have any, and used the remaining amount on food and clothes for my family. I am a tractor driver and I am paid depending on the work that I have done since I am paid KES 200 per acre of land that I have tilled. I am happy that GiveDirectly enabled me to achieve what would have taken me ages to achieve on my own."

"I did Human Resource Management in college but I had not been given the certificate due to fee arrears that I was still owing the school. I am glad that I now have it and can apply for any job position even if it is an internship. In addition, I now have an iron-roofed house and I can fetch water for domestic use during the rainy season. I would not have achieved all this if GiveDirectly had not decided to give us an unconditional cash transfer and I will forever remain grateful for the impact that they have made in my daily life."

"We are a family of 11, my husband works as water vendor in Mombasa, while I do farming and rearing of cows at home. All my children are in primary school, and two of them will be clearing end of this year. Paying school fees for them has been challenge, they are always in and out of school and this is affecting their school performance. Upon receiving the first transfer in June, I hope to take it to school to reduce the balances; especially for those clearing in December."

"I was just at home fetching water for the basic use and had left my phone in the house when the MPESA message was sent. When I went back to the house and checked on the text, I was so happy and a wide grin could clearly be seen on my face. I withdrew the funds the same day and bought food for my family."

"Food insecurity is the biggest challenge in my house. Sometimes I run out of money to buy food especially if my husband is away for some days without sending someone to me. I have a baby of one and a half years old who needs food and the wages I get from my job is KES 230 per day of which doesn't sustain the babies needs. We do not have water in our area and we have to buy from far place- 2kilometres from my compound. I have many challenges which are all brought by luck of stable income generating activity but if I open my own tailoring shop. I believe all these problems will be a gone case."

"I have always wanted to boost my charcoal business so that I can be able to take care of my household responsibilities with ease. The poor economic situation in the country has made things worse because the food prices rose and this made it impossible to feed a family of 12. I had to cut my budget by half to accommodate both food and water which is also a problem for our community due to the drought plus paying school fees for my children. I feel overwhelmed most of the time with too many obligations that have brought frustration into my life. My challenge, therefore, is the insufficient flow of money from my business to take care of my family."