"My challenges I am faced with is the process of sowing and getting other house work done on a daily basis. For the brushing my family and my husband family do that, but to sow and weed the grass my self do them. The daily house work is done by me; if I had child/ children do you think this will be happening? no but here I am today cooking, washing and even at times harvesting for myself. My greatest life challenge is losing a family and not having a child to help by your side when you really need them. At times I sent my little sister children to fetch water. Money and other are also a challenge for me."

"I had gone to fetch water early that morning and when I was coming back, I saw my son was waiting for me at the entrance to tell me that I had gotten a message. I took the phone and saw that it was around 9 am. When I confirmed that I did get the money, I was very happy. The money came in when I was in a tough position as my son had been sent home from school."

"The biggest difference in my daily life is that as a farmer during this drought we have barely survived with unripe cassava and now we can buy proper food for the family. I am also able to buy food for the chickens and even water which would reduce the number of livestock dying from hunger and thirst. I am grateful for the transfer."

"Before resting when I was from fetching water some miles away from, I received a message in my phone. Lucky enough my husband who is also my helper was around and since I don’t know how to read I handed over the phone to him to see what the message is all about not even expecting any good news about money. To be sincere, I expected a promotional message which I usually receive from different senders. He smiled as he was reading the message; I became curious and moved closer only to whisper to me that the first transfer has been sent to us by GiveDirectly. I was filled with happiness for the act that the organization did to me; looking at my husband his face was full of appreciation."

"As I was on my way to the water point to fetch some water, I received a message in my phone. Despite being unable to read and write, I mastered the M-pesa messages and I know how to interpret them. The only difficult scenario is to know the sender but I know how to interpret the money received and the balance. So when I received this message I saw the amount of KES 55000.00, in this case I knew it was from GiveDirectly because we were informed of the first transfer that was to be sent. I was very excited and I almost returned home only that the distance I had covered was longer than where I was going. I was energized and hasten my pace regardless of the fact that we had slept without food the previous night."

"It was exactly 9 AM when I was just from the dam when a message notification popped in. I was so tired and I even opted to take a rest since the water point is quite far from the village. However before I could even take a nap, another message came in. I became so curious and decided to have a look at who it could be. Upon checking, I couldn't believe my eyes, it was the long-awaited Mpesa that I had anxiously been waiting for from GiveDirectly. Due to the excitement that I had, I couldn't afford to rest anymore. I immediately called my spouse and children and informed them about the money that would finally transform our lives positively."

"Despite of all the difficulties we faced with as a family, we are blessed with girls whom I am pleased with . To have them working for me thereby fetching water and taking care of the smaller ones always brought joy to me as a mother because there are numerous of friends who are still in search of child that I have been blessed with many ."

"The biggest difference in my daily life is the renewed hope of picking the construction of my new house. The first step of purchasing enough iron sheets gave me a great feeling as this was the beginning of the work that I have always hoped for. This will not only be providing a decent shelter but also create enough space for my growing family and also enhance the collection of the rainwater from the roof."

"Having a good shelter for my family has always been my aim but I had not been able to achieve it due to an unstable source of income. Currently, I am happy and satisfied that I was able to build a two-room house using the transfer. With this house, my wife will not be going to the river to fetch water during the rainy season since I will be harvesting rainwater. In addition, I am glad that my children will soon start spending their nights at home since they will be able to sleep in the kitchen."

"I do not have a permanent job neither does my husband. We depend on manual jobs which are hard to come by these days. With lots of needs to take care of within the family, I sought to start a small fish business to try and earn something from it. The main challenge I am currently facing together with my husband is not being able to pay school fees fully for our three children, provide a three-course meal for our children and ourselves. When I received the transfer spent KSH 400 in paying school fees for the children. In addition to the fee payment, I spent KSH 520 buying food for the family. The food stock in the house was already depleted. I also spent KSH 250 buying water for my use at home. Purchasing water from dealers is the norm because of the drought conditions we are having at the moment. The water has become very expensive and for those who go looking for water, they have to walk for several kilometers to get water for their use."