"It was around 7 Am, I was milking the cows when I heard a message notification from my phone. I stopped and checked it out who could have texted me that very morning. I could not believe my eyes it was a message confirming that I have received money from GiveDirectly. I felt so happy because I have never received such an amount of money before. It was one of the happiest mornings I have ever received. My family members felt so happy too. I withdrew the money after three days. I had enough time to plan on how to spend it well. I am so grateful for the support because GiveDirectly has improved our living standards."

"The biggest difference in my daily life is owning a dairy cow. This has helped reduced milk expenses because now I get a liter each day. Earlier getting milk from the neighborhood was quite unreliable at times. I had made even efforts towards buying a dairy cow by investment in a village Sacco but GiveDirectly came on time. Secondly, the sofa set I bought can comfortably accommodate more visitors."

"I used the transfers to buy two cows worth Kshs 30,000.This is for remembrance of Give Directly transfers, should they give birth in the future, I will be using the milk produced , for my family's consumption and for sale when in excess. I used Kshs 20,000 to build a structure for rearing chicken and to add more chicks. I am a farmer, and rearing of chicken is advantageous as I will be delivering some of them to the hotels for sale, so as to cater for some of my family's needs. I used the balance of Kshs 5,000 to buy food for my family. I thank Give Directly for the transfers as my family have been feeding on regular and balanced diet for several weeks."

"I do subsistence farming for a living. I used to do farming manually as I had no enough money to hire the labour. With the transfers, I used Kshs 50,000 to buy the cows, to help in cultivating the farm. Farming is now simple unlike before the transfers where I would take a very long time cultivating the farm. I used Kshs 5,000 to buy food as getting regular and balanced diet has been the greatest challenge to me and my family."

"Give directly has done extremely well through its cash donation programs. Many in my village, many have gotten to improve their lives. As for me, I now own a house and a cow. Before, I used to live in a small room together with my sibling that my mother built for us. I felt I needed to progress so I may be ready to start a family. I believe I will now be able to accomplish this. I have not yet noted an area where the organization has not done well."

"The biggest difference that the transfer has brought into our lives is that we no longer incur the cost of buying milk daily like before. This is because we managed to buy a cow of our own with part of the money. I am also glad that I was able to buy more utensils for use in my household because the ones that I had, had become few and old."

"We spent about KES 30000 of our recent transfer on building a boy's quarters for our two boys. We decided to do so because they didn't have a place of their own to sleep. They have thus been sleeping in a borrowed house. We have been meaning for a long time to build them a house of their own where they can sleep and study but we had not gotten the money needed to do so. I have a small grocery business while my husband is casually employed as a security guard. The money that we get is not much and most of it usually goes to the payment of school fees for our five children. Other than that, we also bought a cow at KES 20000. We decided to buy the cow so that it can help us in the future when it calves. We will be able to get milk that we can sell and get money for paying school fees for our children or we can sell a calf when it gets tough to get money. We also gave KES 2000 to our son who recently completed his secondary school studies to use in applying for a medical course. With the remaining transfer amount, we spent it on buying school uniforms for our three children who are in primary school and we bought some home clothes for them. Thank you so much GiveDirectly for the support."

"The biggest difference in my daily life is that I have purchased a heifer. This is because I always buy milk daily and it's so costly for me. I depend on small-scale farming where I plant maize and vegetables. This is my main source of income since I sell the surplus at the market to get some money. I used the money on school fees for my children in various schools and to meet the daily needs of the family. I make no savings since sometimes the harvest is so small. I had always wished to own a dairy cow but it was not possible because I did not have the money. My children sometimes go without milk whenever I do not have the money. Currently, I have hope that when my cow reproduces I will get enough milk for my family and even sell the surplus to meet other basic needs and pay school fees for my children. I am so happy because GiveDirectly has enabled us fulfilled our dreams."

"We spent our entire recent transfer on buying a piece of land which was adjacent to ours. We bought two points of an acre which was being sold at KES 90000. I had managed to pay the seller some amount and I had promised to clear the balance once I get the transfer from GiveDirectly. We decided to buy the piece of land to recover two points of an acre that we had been forced to sell before to raise money for clearing a hospital bill that we had. I had decided since then that I will do what it takes to re-buy the two points again. I was however not able to achieve this sooner since I had not gotten enough money. I usually rear some cows and sell milk to earn a living. The money from the sales has been helping me in paying school fees for my son and paying the merry-go-round group contributions. The merry-go-round has helped me a lot since I was able to raise some money for buying the piece of land. I am hence so much grateful to GiveDirectly for enabling me to achieve my goal."

"The transfer has brought a big difference in our lives as a family. We now own a cow just like our neighbors. The cow is about to calve and when it does, we will no longer incur the cost of buying milk for our consumption. The children are also happy because they have new clothes to wear. It had become quite hard for us to buy them some since most of the money that we usually make from our posho mill business usually goes to the purchase of food and paying school fees for our children."