"The money helped me at that time to buy food, water, and seek medication and I am thankful for GD."

"Before I started receiving funds from give directly, I was unemployed. In order to fend for my family, I would look for casual jobs most of which involved cleaning. This was never profitable for me as the jobs were not consistent. I would make around ksh150 per day worked and providing for my family was a challenge. But when give directly stepped in, my life changed for the best. From my first transfer of ksh1200, I spent ksh600 on food, since there were droughts in my area, I spent ksh400 on water and the remaining amount I added to the ksh100 I had to raise a capital of ksh300 to start a fish vending business. This increased my daily earnings by more than 100%. When I got my second transfer of ksh3000, I distributed it equally to farming, food, and business expansion. I now have a daily earning of around ksh500 and I could say I can now comfortably provide for my family."

"It was around 10 AM when I was at the dam fetching water when I saw a message notification on my mobile phone. I decided to check who it could be since I wasn't expecting to hear from anyone. Upon checking, I realized it was an Mpesa message from GIvedirectly, they had debited my first KES 55000 as they had promised. I have never been that happy before, to be honest, the message made my day. I had to rush back home and inform all my family members and it was like a dream to them as well."

"The recent short rains have brought me a lot of joy as a goat farmer. Last year was a tough year because of lack of pasture for livestock due to a long dry spell. Since the onset of the short rains I can now relax at home. I used to go for long distances looking for water and pasture for the goats. I can now utilize my time to do other activities like crop farming."

"My priority is injecting more capital to my tailoring business when I receive this money. I have a small tailor shop which needs a lot of expansion. I will start buy adding more materials and buying one more sewing machine all at a cost of KES 30,000. This will help me earn more income from the shop which will help me with family needs. I also plan to use KES 10,000 to complete part of a a wall of my house which is incomplete. When it rains, water gets into the house through the opening."

"When I withdrew the money, I bought a bicycle so that it may aid me in water fetching since the distance to the water point was very long and it was expensive if you hire a motorbike. I was also able to pay school fees for my children. Thereafter, I bought some goats and saved the remaining amount for food to sustain the family."

"Being a parent of 7 children, I took the money and invested it my children’s education. I paid school fees of KES 20000.00 for my secondary school child, KES 10000.00 for my primary school children. Since it was a dry season, I used the rest for the family upkeep in terms of buying food and water."

"The first thing I thought of was a house. When I withdrew the money I bought iron sheets worthy KES 20000.00 so that I build a new house because the old one is collapsing and it’s risky to live in. I also paid KES 15000.00 school fees for my children and the remaining amount went to food and water for the family."

"Building an iron roofed house for my family was a big achievement. Even though it is not yet complete,it just a small part remaining and furnishing it. Frankly speaking it is a great milestone to us . We can now harvest clean rainy water from the roof as opposed to a grass thatched house which we could not."

"This area has had drought for almost two years . Last year on December 2021 , it rained very much and every water pan is full of water now. I used to get water from very far , around 10km. I can now get water here at home because the compound has its own water pan. The rains brought happiness in my life."