"My husband and I have for the longest time desired to own a cow but we didn't have the money needed to buy one since we usually rely on casual jobs of farming to earn a living. These casual jobs do not pay a lot and hence most of the money usually goes to the purchase of food and essential household items such as sugar, soap, tea leaves, etc. So when we got our recent transfer from GiveDirectly, we decided to finally fulfill our dream and we bought a cow at KES 40000. The cow is still in its lactation period and hence we are glad because we now have milk for our consumption and hence we no longer incur the cost of buying some. One of our neighbors used to supply us with some and at times we could fail to get the milk when the demand is high. Our children would thus suffer during those days since they were sometimes forced to go to school without having taken tea since there was no milk to prepare some. Other than that, we also spent KES 1600 on hiring two points of an acre of land and tilling it. We plan to plant maize for subsistence use on it. We also paid school fees for our three children in primary school with KES 3000. With the remaining amount, we spent it on buying food for our consumption. We are so much grateful to GiveDirectly for their big support."

"The transfers from GiveDirectly enabled me to achieve a lot. I was able to buy a cow with the first transfer, something I never had before. The cow however does not have a shed and hence my new goal is to build one. I also have a goal to plant nappier grass for the cow to feed on. With the dairy shed, the cow will have somewhere to feed on and rest. I decided to venture into dairy farming so that my wife who currently does not have a job will have something to do to keep her busy and earn some income. She can sell the milk from the cow and get some money for meeting the small basic needs of the family when I am away from home to do some work."

"I spent my entire transfer money on buying a piece of land. I bought three points of an acre which was being sold at KES 35000 per point. The piece of land that I have been living in is small and not enough to do farming or to graze the cows. I have been hoping for a long time to buy more land but I didn't have the money needed to do so. The only income-generating activities that I usually do to get money is growing vegetables and selling them. I also usually collect the eggs from my chickens and sell them. The money that I get from the sales is not much, most of it usually goes to the purchase of food and buying the essential household items such as sugar, soap, etc. I am thus so much glad and grateful to GiveDirectly because they enabled me to achieve my dream."

"In my opinion, GiveDirectly did well in giving aid in a monetary form which has reduced our financial burdens. This is evident in our village because those who didn't have dairy cows now have and those who couldn't afford school fees have paid."

"The biggest difference in my daily life since I started receiving the transfers is the purchase of the bull and the cow. In the next few months with proper feeds, this will be an opportunity to have a calf and an adequate supply of milk which will support me in my finances."

"When I withdrew the money, I first bought a bale of maize flour because hunger was a major challenge. On returning home, I sat down to plan how wise I would use the money. I opted to invest some of the money in livestock. Therefore I bought six goats for KES 18000.00. I settled on goats over cows because goats have ready markets; they can be easily converted into monetary value and also they can withstand drought, unlike cows. I also bought a standard modern bed for KES 7000.00 since I was using a broken traditional bed. Thereafter, I used KES 2500.00 to take my son to the hospital after falling sick and saved the remaining amount for the family’s upkeep"

"After enrollment, I sat down with my wife to discuss what to spend both our transfers on. Being a dairy farmer, we agreed on purchasing a dairy friesian cow with KES 51,000. This was an addition to the ones that we had before. We currently milk eight to ten liters of milk per day. The huge investment in dairy cows was a great boost in milk production which will allow supply one of the biggest milk processing companies next to our town and hence get income to cater to our needs. With the remaining amount, I spent in buying clothes for my family members who were equally happy and thankful to Givedirectly."

"After achieving all the key priority plans that we had discussed with my husband one being the purchase of an additional heifer, I do not have any new goals. The three dairy cows that we have right now are a great boost since we no longer need to struggle with the purchase of milk and also soon we are going to sell surplus milk to earn an extra income."

"I spent KES 15700 of my second transfer on paying school fees and equipping my child, who was joining grade nine. Since it was a transition from primary school to secondary, a lot had to be bought for her admission. I also spent KES 20000 on buying a heifer that I am hopeful will provide enough milk for my family of eight in the future. At the moment my family has been dependent on my neighbor's cow that we had been keeping. I spent KES 10000 of the remaining amount on foodstuff and used the remaining amount to equip the other three children with all the school requirements they needed. I feel relieved after making all those changes with the received transfers."

"GiveDirectly does well by giving money to build better houses and to buy dairy cows. There living standards and improved compared to previous days. I do not find anything that GiveDirectly did not do well."