"My children and I have very few clothes-four pairs of clothes each and this has made my child prone to skin diseases despite washing the clothes regularly. The water pan is very far I spend one-hour fetching 20 litres of water and my family need 60 litres of water which means I have to visit the water pan three times every day."

"I have been a resident of this village for more than thirty years now. The biggest problem that is shared in this village is in availability of water. We get water from a water pan that is about two kilometres from my home, not very far, but the water isn't safe because it originates from floods. It pains me a lot to be using unsafe water knowingly though I do not have a choice. Another problem is that pipped water in this area is also not so reliable. Therefore getting this money means tackling my problem once ; I plan to buy 10000L water tank to tap rain water. This will cost around 70000KES, and I'm sure I'll be able to get safe water from one rainy season to another."

"Without sufficient rain in this area, it becomes difficult for me to make ends meet. This is because farming is my main source of livelihood. Rain not only solves the problem of scarcity of food and water but also earns me extra income to take my children to school and satisfy other needs as well. The last time we had a better harvest was two years ago."

"The first I considered after receiving the transfers was nourishment for my family and I because drought had taken a toll on us and we barely had any food left in the house. I went ahead and bought six packet of maize flour for KES 720 and then used KES 250 as transportation fee for the person I sent to go fetch water for me in the neighbouring town since it was scarce in our area. Then I took part of the balance which is KES 750 and used it to buy three hens since I intended to begin poultry farming. I then went on and decided to purchase clothes for my two kids since they barely had anything presentable because most of their clothes were old and worn out and for that I used KES 1,200. Lastly I remained with KES 80 which I used to get sugar."

"Unfortunately this few past years drought and famine has taught us a hard lesson especially considering that most of us back in the village and that includes myself relied on the farm and the harvest to feed our families. In most situations people were starving up until getting to know GiveDirectly. So when I received the money I went ahead and a bag of maize that contained a dozen packets for KES 1,400. On the other hand last year I went through a tough time when my house fell but fortunately I had began building a house prior to that the only problem was that it was unfinished. With nowhere else to go we moved into the incomplete house and used the transfers we keep receiving to try and finish up on the house so that we could finally get settled. I used KES 700 to pay the labourers for some of the work they had done so far using the money I had received. Then went head to used the balance of KES 900 to buy drinking water, beans, sardines, sugar, salt, bread and tea leaves."

"Unfortunately three days prior to receiving the money my two children had been sent back home because they had a debt in tuition fee and I barely had money on me to send them back. Then a few days later I received the funds from GiveDirectly and to be honest I was happy and also shocked with how the universe works sometimes especially when something you really needed and wanted came through for you in the least unexpected way. Nevertheless I was grateful I paid KES 2,000 for them which was split equally between them . Then I used the balance of KES 1,000 to purchase six packets of maize flour, sardines and drinking water since it was scarce in our area and normally I had to fetch it in neighbouring towns."

"I joined a savings committee earlier this year so that eventually I would have enough money to start a business where I sold clothes so that to make extra money and provide for me and my family. So when I received the funds from GiveDirectly I went ahead and contributed KES 1,000 to the savings committee like I normally did monthly. Then I used KES 1,350 from the balance that had remained to buy a bag of maize flour which had twelve packets. I was left with KES 650 where I used KES 250 to pay the transportation fee used in going to fetch drinking water since we experienced scarcity and the only place where we could get the water from was quite a distance of around six hours to and fro if I decided to walk, which I did most times when I had no money. The rest of the money I used it in buying sardines, beans and sugar."

"I spent the whole of my transfer in buying food for my family. I am currently jobless as I have always depended on the farm to earn a living, which is not the case now. The drought has made it hard for me to work on the farm as we hardly harvest anything. Before the drought I grew vegetables on my farm and after harvesting I would sell it in the market. My wife has been a supportive in selling the vegetables in the market too. I now depend on my sons who work in town to feed us. Because of the harsh economic times, they sometimes cannot send us money and we have to sleep hungry. When I received my transfer, I bought food in bulk because of the lack of a coherent plan on how to get money. I bought 17 packets of maize flour at KSH 1700, 2kgs of sugar at KSH 200, Omena at 500, 2 loaves of bread at KSH 130, tea leaves at 70. I then spent the remaining amount to purchase water for our own home use. Water is a scarce commodity in our village, and we buy it from water vendors at very high prices."

"I spent half of my transfer in buying food and water for my own home use. Because of the lack of rain in our area, we no longer get food directly from our farms. We have to buy food from the shops and at very high prices. Getting water for use at home has become a challenge. I have to walk for long distance of over 60 km to find water. Because of the tiresome journey of walking back and forth in search of water, I always opt to buy from the water vendors, but at very high prices. Besides buying food and water, I spent KSH 500 to clear some debts. Lack of a source of income made me to incur some debt which eventually I had to pay. I then spent the remaining amount of KSH 1000 in paying school fees arrears for my three children who were at home due to fee balances. I am happy that they went back to school, continued with their studies and did their exams too."

"My new goal is to buy a generator to harvest water from the nearest main source of water. I am working towards achieving this by having a savings plan. I save two hundred shillings per day on a good day and at least fifty shillings on a bad day."