"My husband is a local mason and he is the breadwinner of the family. Due to prevailing drought seasons, it's been difficult for him to get a job since majority of people in our region spend the little income that they get to provide basic needs and cannot afford to bear building cost. Sometimes, he's forced to walk for kilometers for him to get a job and when he does, he earns very little like KES 500 per day. This only enough to cater for the most basic needs such as food and water. Because of these economic hardships, we have been forced to survive with only two pairs of clothes which are now torn due to regular washing. I used to feel ashamed seeing my two children waking in torn clothes with stitches everywhere. When I received the transfers, my major priority was to save the children from shame by buying them clothes. I spend KES 650 to buy them second hand clothes and KES 450 to buy maize floor. Right now, my children are nolonger the laughing stock of the village and I'm glad that we were able to get food enough to take us for some few weeks."

"My next goal in life is to purchase a dairy cow that I will rear with the one that I already have. By doing this, I will be selling some of the milk to earn an income that I can use in supporting my family. I am glad that GiveDirectly has enabled me to own a water tank that I am currently using to harvest and store clean water for domestic use. Currently, I do not have the finances to use in achieving this but I believe that God will make a way very soon."

"My life since becoming a widow has not been all rosy. I have faced a lot of challenges in providing basic needs for myself. These challenges result from not having a job. I currently depend on my son, who works as a casual laborer on a construction site in Mombasa. Due to the unpredictable nature of his job, he does not work daily, limiting his income. When this happens, I am affected because I am left with no option but to either skip meals or sleep hungry until he can secure a job. When I received my first transfer, I spent it all on purchasing food and water for my own home use. Water is a scarce commodity in our area because of the drought. As a result, I have to buy the water from vendors at very high prices."

"My husband works in a motorcycle taxi called “Bodaboda”. In recent months, he has struggled to make a killing in his business due to several challenges beyond his reach. The scarcity and high prices of fuel have contributed to his low income. In helping my husband pay the family bills (food, water, school fees, and clothing), I previously burnt wood and sold charcoal. Currently, I no longer sell charcoal because I am expectant and the tedious nature of the job will affect my health and that of my unborn baby. Because of the financial struggle we are going through as a family (husband and seven children), I spent KES 2000 to buy food and water, which is a scarce and expensive commodity in our area. Besides buying the food, I bought 5 hens as a start in my poultry business. With a lot of economic uncertainties, the poultry business will ensure I become financially stable and take care of the family's needs."

"Ever since I was 3 years old, I have battled a strange illness where I often fall unconscious. I have visited different hospitals but I have never had a solution to the illness. The medicine I am given to suppress the conditions is very expensive and I cannot afford to buy them every month due to the poor financial state we are currently in. My tribulations with the illness came to a high when I was in class 3 and this forced me to drop out of school. Since then, I have stayed at home and helped my mother with light house chores (washing utensils, cooking, and washing clothes). My mother’s earnings (100 per day) from the manual jobs (fetching water for pay and selling firewood) are not enough to support the family (Mother and 5 siblings). Often we sleep on empty stomachs or survive on one meal per day when we cannot get money. Therefore, when I received my transfer of KES 1200, I spent it all on buying food. This was to avoid starvation amongst my family members."

"Food insecurity is becoming a challenge in my house because the wages my husband gets from the quarry work cannot give my five children 3 meals in a day. Drinking water is a havoc! We get drinking water from a tap which is more than 2 kilometres away from my compound. We have to wakeup early in order to que to get this precious comondity. My house is about to fall and I am not thinking about repairing it because I dont have money to do that. I have been sleeping on the floor for years, I wish I could have a bed and a mattress to enjoy my nights. I am facing alot of life problems but luck of capital to start a business of my own could be the source of these challenges in my house."

"Financially I am constrained, I am struggling to buy food and water for domestic use. Ones in awhile I get casual jobs of construction but they can only sustain me for a short time. I then have to depend solely on my husbands income to enable me attend to the basic needs. This comes with its own challenge since his income is no consistent and he works away from the village."

"Even though I ear very little amount of money; 14000 KES as the only family income, I'm happy I have that. In this area life has gotten really expensive and we have to pay school fees of around 1200 KES for each child as well as spend money to get basic things like water and vegetables. I still just feels happy I even have income."

"For the past six month I was not happy because I lost my sister son, he die in water."

"The greatest challenge I am facing currently is lack of water in the village. I am forced to walk for over 2 hours every morning only to come back home with a 20 litre Jerrican of water. This situation is stressful and has denied me peace for long because getting more than one jerrican of water in a day is close to impossible."