"The biggest difference in my daily life is the cow that has brought back the long-lost joy in our household. It has always been a struggle to buy enough milk for the family every morning and even though we don't have enough yet; we hope that in the next few months, my family of six will enjoy enough provision from the cow. I am grateful to GiveDirectly for the support and looking forward to doing more with the second transfer."

"My husband is unemployed and we have been surviving on the casual jobs he gets on construction sites. Life has been tough because the jobs are not consistent and sometimes am forced to work as a charcoal burner to afford our basic needs. When I received my transfer, I used KES 17,500 and bought a cow because I figured that if the cow reproduces it will be an opportunity to secure funds that can support my children who are at school. With the financial struggles, I decided to settle my children’s school fees of KES 7,800 and bought them uniforms for KES 1000. I also used KES 1000 and opened the business of selling sardines which have been quite supportive of my daily needs. The remaining amount was used to buy building materials to complete the two-roomed house structure which was incomplete due to our financial constraints for the past two years."

"My new goal is to build a house in the city. I have purchased a land. Currently I am investing in cattles. I have purchase a female cow."

"Before give directly, my husband, my four children, and I lived humbly in my parents-in-law's compound. There, we could get by with the KES 400 daily earning my husband makes as a traditional palm wine brewer. The house we lived in had no electricity and putting food on the table was also a challenge. Even worse, we were unable to be timely in the payment of our children's school fees. So, when I got the funds from the organization, the first thing I did was purchase some food as we had run out of it. I then bought a solar panel to light up my home and have somewhere I could charge my phone easily. For some financial security, we then bought a cow at KES 15,000. Additionally, my husband and I decided to purchase a 50 by 100 piece of land that was selling at KES 70,000. From the funds, I then used KES 20,000 as a down payment as we work on paying the rest in small installments."

"It was around 5 pm and I was outside looking after my cows as they herd when suddenly I heard a message alert on my phone. I decided to have a look at it, though it is not always my habit to check the messages that are usually sent on my phone. I was surprised when I opened the SMS and I read that I had received the promised transfer of KES 55000 from GiveDirectly. I was so happy that I felt like shouting out with joy. I couldn't believe it. Soon enough after I got the transfer, I started hearing other people in my neighborhood shouting and celebrating with joy and I guessed that they might have received the wonderful news too. I called my husband who was still away at work and I informed him what had happened. He was so happy to hear this and we celebrated together giving thanks to God."

"I never knew that I can own a cow in my life because I didn't have the financial capability to buy one. My biggest desire was to own livestock and it feels like my prayers were finally answered. I am now a proud owner of cow which hopefully will give birth to many more. Seeing it outside my house everyday gives me a lot of joy"

"Early that morning I was unwell and I had gone to the hospital. On my way back home I heard my phone vibrate. Upon checking, it was a confirmation of my first transfer. I was so happy and grateful and immediately called my elder son who is my helper and informed him about it and he was so excited. We withdrew part of the transfer to purchase a dairy cow the same day."

"Two 21500, 14k.. iron sheets 12....2 to three rooms..Petro station...did have cow"

"At around 6 pm while just relaxing and herding cows on my homestead that's when I heard a message alert on my phone. On checking, it was an MPesa notification showing that I had received KES 55,000 from GiveDirectly. I was very happy and couldn't keep the good news to myself."

"I felt so much happy the moment I received money from GiveDirectly. People within my village had received the money and knew about it early enough before I did. It was not until my helper came and checked for me and confirmed that I too had been sent money from Givedirectly. Once she confirmed that I had received money from GiveDirectly I was overwhelmed with joy. I took time before I could withdraw the money as I reorganized myself on how I was going to put the money into good use. I was happy that finally I was going to be able to buy a dairy cow and put to an end the endless spending of money to buy milk which was getting very costly for me."