"Receiving this money means self employment for me. I worked as a vegetable vendor in Mombasa from 2004 to 2018. I used to buy vegetables in our village and resell them in Mombasa at a reasonable profit. The income I was getting sustained my family of 5 children for all those years. In 2017, I started operating at a loss. There were no enough vegetables being produced in the village. I was not meeting the demand of my customers. The income started running low. I finally decided to quit the job in 2018. I went back to the village from Mombasa. Life started becoming tough. I could no longer fully meet the needs of my family because I had no constant income. We were only depending of farming. I could sell cassava to my neighbors and use the money to pay fees for my children. Early this year (2021), I decided to venture into local improved chicken production after seeing my neighbor succeed in this particular business. For sure this project can take me out of poverty. The only challenge I am facing about this project is lack of funds to buy the feeds. I am planning to use the funds I will be receiving to first construct a semi intensive Poultry house. I will then be buying the feeds for the poultry. After a period of 5 months, the birds will be ready for the market. The birds will be selling at a price of 1,000 KES per bird. The income I will earn from this project will play a very big role in changing my life. From this income, I will pay school fees for my children, sort all the needs of my family and expand the project. I will no longer be dependant on any employment."

"I had plans that I had laid down and prayed to God to open ways for me to be able to fulfill them. One of these goals was to start a poultry-keeping project and when I received my transfer, I spent KES 30500 to build a chicken coop, purchase thirty chicks, and catered for the transport. This will be my main source of income and I am happy that I will be able to help my spouse in settling some of our bills and grateful to Givedirectly for enabling me to achieve this. In addition to this, I spent KES 10000 to construct a powerhouse in preparation for the electricity last-mile installation. I decided on this since my house is 700m far from the transformer and the required distance is usually 600m or less. Also, I spent KES 2500 to pay school fees for my children who had been sent back home and used the remaining amount on food and clothes for my family."

"Upon receiving my transfer, I purchased a water tank worth KES 19400 so that I can be using it to harvest rainwater for domestic use during the dry season. I have a leg problem that does not allow me to walk for a long-distance or do something that will strain it. Because of this, I usually hire a motorcycle to help me in ferrying water from the river and this is costly. Also, I purchased a barbed wire worth KES 7000 that I am planning to use in fencing a part of my land where I am planning to plant some animal feeds and a Kukunet worth KES 2600 to use in building a bigger feeding ground for my chicken as I am planning on expanding my poultry project. In addition to this, I managed to spend KES 10300 on clothes, KES 6000 to purchase two sacks of maize, KES 1000 on utensils after saving KES 3000."

"I am having three children pursuing their education in various Colleges ( Voi University, Bandari college and Chebalungu TTI). This has given me sleepless nights and a big struggle in paying school fees. I will use KES 50000 of this money to clear school fees areas. My earlier enterprise of poultry farming collapsed as a result of a lack of finance since I did Channel all that we earn in paying school fees. This money allows me to rejuvenate my poultry farming with KES 30000 and since I have no job it will enable me to earn income through the sale of eggs and chicken. For the remaining KES 20000, I will use it to buy food and basic needs for my family."

"Hunger is the biggest challenge I have faced in life. This has been triggered by adverse weather conditions ( drought ) and diseases in the area. This has affected crop production and distribution in our families. Having three meals a day is only possible when my relatives bring me some of the food materials. Otherwise, I live on one meal a day and sometimes two especially when there are sweet potatoes. Getting this meal a day is a great struggle, for the past years I have sold out all my goats and some of the chicken to meet the food requirement and at the moment I am afraid because all my salable assets are no more."

"Receiving this money means an investment in goat and chicken farming. This is what can sustain me and my family given the low rainfall in this region. They can survive the dry seasons well. I will begin with five goats and ten chicken which will cost me approximately KES 15,000 and KES 5,000 respectively. I will also budget KES 40,000 to buy two oxen and a plough to help me till my land when the rains come."

"The cash gift will meant building a house, buying beddings and buying food. My family is composed of 4 people, myself and my wife plus two children. My oldest child is 10years whilst the last born is 3 years. Together we live in my wife's village where we build a grass thatched house. We had chickens and ducks that we started keeping 8 months ago for future use. The only financial source we have for the family is piece works and at times I act as a fisherman.i have a piece of land, which is about 1acre. From my village is half an acre and her at my wife's village we own half acre piece of land. My main plant is maize which we plant during rain season only. From those piece of land we normally harvest 4 to 5 bags of 50kgs. The maize usually lasts for 5 to 6 months. Due to that, I always buy food in additional to the ones we harvested. On monthly basis I usually make K30000. The money is usually spend to buy food. The cash gift will be used to build a house because we are tired of cutting grass every year for the roof. Hence I was to buy iron sheets. The bed that you have seen inside the house, it is not the bed I have always wanted, I want something made from timber. And lastly want to buy food to add on the maize I harvested as it was not enough."

"Buying milk has been my routine and because of this is costly as I have been spending KES 50 daily on them apart from other items that I usually buy like maize flour, salt, and sugar. On receiving my transfer, I spent KES 42000 to purchase a dairy cow and five chicken as a way of starting poultry farming. We will be using eggs as an alternative of vegetables as it is a good source of proteins. As a way of fully utilizing my land as I had just harvested my farm produce, I spent KES 5000 on farming through buying fertilizers and beans seeds for planting. Finally, I spent KES 5000 on clothes as a way of changing our wardrope and KES 2200 to purchase a seat."

"The happiest part of my day is in the evening, after collecting the days earnings, both from selling farm produce and from casual jobs that I sometimes do. I keep some chicken, goats and a cow. It takes a whole day to attend to all of them, with a lot of physicality that exhaust my energy. At the end, I am always excited to sell some of the produce like milka and eggs. It makes me happy to earn at least KES 100 to top up to the same amount that my husband gives me, supporting him in taking care of our family."

"In my homestead we share one cow with the extended family. We all depend on it for milk and because we are 4 families the milk produced is not enough for all of us. Owning a dairy cow for my household will mean that we'll have enough milk each day and we can also sell the milk to other villagers. The transfer I get will aid in purchasing a dairy cow worth KES 40,000. I'm part of a merry go round saving group and on most days I'm not able to contribute for it, but with the money I'll get from selling the milk I'll be able to contribute in time. I also want to start poultry farming of layer chickens worth KES 10,000 and sell the eggs to make extra income for the family. As for my second transfer I want to finish cementing my house, kitchen, buy food and clothing for my wife and 2 children."