"I am going though a lot of struggles in life ranging from food insecurity, lack of water etc. However, seeing my family members alive and healthy has brought joy in my life and I always thank God for every day."

"We lack clean water which we use for cooking, washing clothes and bathing, we buy a jerrican at 50ksh and in a day I need like 6 jerricans which cost me 300 KSH a day. I lack lighting at home and most days we have to cook early or do homework with children very early,so I find it a big challenge and I hope I can solve this challenge earlier."

"For the last twenty years, I have been working as a security guard in mombasa town to take care of my family. I used to earn KES 6000 a month. However, in the year 2020 during covid 19, my employer reduced my salary to KES 3000 a month. This is too little to sustain a family of four children. I had to come back home to find an alternative to survive. When I came back, there were no jobs in the village and I was forced to depend on my elder son who is in the city. This is because I developed eye sight problem that has made it difficult to engage in economic activities in the village. Upon receiving the cash transfers, I will use KES 75000 to buy two 10,000 litre water tanks that I will store water and sell in the village because it is scarce and this will be a good opportunity to invest in. I will then use the remaining amount to finish building my house that my son built for me. Receiving this money therefore means economic independence to my family."

"It hardly rains in this part of the world but in the last 2 months, it has been raining consistently. This means that we do not struggle so much to get water for household use as we do during drought season and this is something I am happy about"

"For the past 30 years, we have been living in a house made of timber. This house has been invaded by termites and may collapse any time soon. Repairing and renovating this house is costly to us because the floor and the timber are affected by rains. Water sips through the floor hence causing cracks whereas the bottom side of the timber rots. My dream has been to establish a permanent brick-made house but because of the limited income, I get from my grocery I have been unable to accomplish this on time. This amount will therefore enable me to achieve this goal because currently, I have sand and bricks. The money will cater for other building materials and cost such as cement, timber, and labor."

"I wake up at about 5 a.m every day and walk a distance of more than 4km looking for logs to burn charcoal. This is not the life I have longed to live. Am an industrious woman who used to produce watermelon over ten tonnes in a year. This was two years ago. Drought led me into what I current do. I have longed to start a small business (selling green vegetables) but I do not have the initial capital. Burning charcoal is not sustainable since trees are getting exhausted day by day and I am also aging. The future is gloomy."

"About three days prior to receiving the funds from GiveDirectly my two children had been kicked out of school due to pending balance in school fee and I had also yet to pay the for their examination fee. As soon as I received the money I went ahead and paid KES 1,200 to the school so that they would go back and continue with their education. I was left with about KES 1,800 where I went ahead and bought six packets of maize flour for KES 760 and used KES 250 to send for six gallons of drinking water which was scarce in our area. I then went on to use the remaining balance of KES 830 and bought items that I needed in the house like body lotion, laundry detergent, sugar, tomatoes, bread and even beans."

"Few days after receiving the money I fell ill. I had severe chest pains which made me weak and I visited the hospital to get medical attention. I spent KSH 600 in buying medicine and paying for the medical bill in the hospital. Because of the current drought conditions, I no longer work on my farm and I have to buy all the food from the shops and at very high prices. Finding water is very hard and we have to buy it from water vendors at very high prices. Because of these challenges, I spent KSH 1400 in buying both food and water. To crown it all, I started a kiosk business that has made me self-employed and I am happy that from it I earn a living."

"The major challenging I am currently facing is the ability to provide for my family. My job includes working on various manual jobs such as burning charcoal, selling vegetables and fetching water for other people for pay. The pay I get from these jobs is very little and is not enough to take care of all my family's needs. My husband works as a mason and the job is not daily. When I received my transfer, I was thrilled because it was a boost for me to support my family. I spent a bigger portion of the transfer to buy food for the family. I bought 2kgs of sugar, 12 packets of 2 kg sugar, bread, tea leaves, cooking oil all at a price of KSH 2000. My 5 children were home due to school fees arrears, so I spent the remaining KSH 1000 to make up the difference. I am glad that they could go back to school and continued with their education."

"I am a widow and the only breadwinner in my family. My eldest son completed his secondary education and is yet to join college to continue with his education. I am not financially stable because I do not have a job. I have been surviving by working on manual jobs such as burning charcoal for sale. The little I earn is only enough to feed my family and I have nothing left to save or even take my children to school. When I received my transfer, I saved KSH 1000 of the money in a Chama. Through the Chama, I will get a loan and pay the required amount to enroll my son into college. I then spent the remaining amount of money in buying maize flour, sugar, beans, tea leaves, washing detergent and water. Because of the drought, it’s challenging to harvest food from the farm and I have to buy all the food from the shop and water at very high prices."