"I live in a mud house, we smear every week due to rains. This is a lot of work since we have to go for smearing materials from a distance (a distinct white soil type that is used for this purpose). This is also tiresome and uses a lot of water. We have been having plans as a family to construct a wooden or bricks house. We plan to use KES 30,000 to construct a bigger, two-bedroom house. For the rest of the amount, I plan to also purchase a water tank that will help me collect clean drinking water which is also a problem. Receiving this money, therefore, means better housing for my family and a great reduction of the daily workload."

"I have a son who is about to sit for her Kenya Certificate of Primary Education exams. To support him as him do well in the exams, I spent KSH 2000 to buy him the essential materials required for him to be comfortable to sit for the exams. I bought him a geometrical set, a set of pencils, erasers. I am thrilled that he is finally going to sit for the exams and I hope that after all the struggles he has been through from class one up to now; he is going to pass with flying colors. Besides preparing my son for the examinations, I spent the remaining KSH 1000 to buy food for my family. The effects of the drought are immense, as I can no longer harvest anything from the farm. I buy the food we consume from the shop at very high prices, making it difficult to buy a lot. I earn an income from fetching water for other people. The amount is little and I spend it all in buying food for the family."

"I am a widow, diabetic and I have been having difficulty walking due to old age yet I have a water shortage in my household. To get water for domestic use, I have to rely on neighbors to get me some from the water pan and I have to pay for it. I spend KES 100 per day for 100 liters of water due to a shortage of rainfall. I, therefore, intend to purchase a water tank at an estimated cost of KES 30,000 to collect water during the rainy season and spend KES 15,000 of the remaining cash to purchase a calf. Receiving this money will therefore relate to sufficient water in the household and I will be able to save some cash and I am glad for that."

"I have wanted to purchase a bicycle fr the longest time and this is because apart from helping me get to work I planned on using it as my means of transport when it came to getting water and transporting it back home from other villages since our village had issues with providing clean drinking water. Plus getting the water myself would help reduce the cost of having to pay someone to bring the water for us. I identified the price of the bicycle which was KES 6,000 so I took KES 2,000 of what I received and put it away in order to save for the bicycle which I planned to buy eventually. I was left KES 1,000 and decided to buy four packets of maize flour which cost KES 480, then used KES 20 to buy airtime. I am still left with KES 500 which I plan on using it on food in case I run out."

"I plan to do agriculture work on my farm with the money that give directly send to me, I plan to buy water machine for the garden,I plan to pay my children school fees and I also plan to buy food for the house."

"I was nursing my husband wound early in the morning with some hot water, when I heard the message tone on the phone. I asked my son to check it, he told me it was the money Givedirectly sent. Immediately went to the town chief wife who live closer to me started dancing and singing praising God and thanking Givedirectly for the money."

"GiveDirectly can help people with money, for them to build house, send their children school and to also feed their family. GiveDirectly does not take water nor food from people ."

"It was around 5pm in the evening and I was from fetching water when I heard people talking about having received the said money from GiveDirectly. I then checked my phone and confirmed that indeed I had also received my transfer. I felt great happiness because, first of all, I didn't expect that I was truly going to get that money and the other reason for my happiness was that I knew my heart's desires will be fulfilled. I knew that I was at last going to get the house that I've always desired to have, since my charcoal burning and selling business barely raised enough which mostly catered for food for my family."

"After building a modern house using the first transfers, my key challenge was now water accessibility. So when I received the second transfer, I spent KES 17,000 on a water tank that can store volumes of water for a longer time. This is because earlier on we used to fetch water in a river that's two kilometers away. This was quite tiresome for my wife and kids. At times we were forced to hire a donkey or motorcycle to transport the water but this was quite costly. Now, I am grateful because since I bought the water tank we have lots of water to use and we no longer go to the river anymore. Secondly, another challenge was food scarcity. So with GiveDirectly transfers, I bought three bags of maize at KES 10,500. This is because in my small piece of land I normally do small-scale maize, beans, Sukuma, wiki, and spinach farming which cannot suffice my family most times due to long dry spells. Furthermore, I have been a high school cook for the past 10 years and my salary of KES 10,000 can only cater for school fees."

"Currently I own three self-contained rental houses in Chebunyo market and at the moment tenants face regular water shortage. Every now and then I get calls from them complaining and this has been a source of stress to me. I have a desire to buy a 3500-liter water tank to solve this problem and this will cost KES 24000. My monthly rental income is KES 9000 and this spent on paying school fees for my 3 children. Receiving this money will enable me to buy a water tank that will solve water shortage for my tenants."