"The old leaking house is the biggest challenge am currently facing.My house was built more than 30 years ago by my late husband . This house was not strategically placed because run offs water penetrates through the floor and walls during rainy periods.This forces me to seek refuge at my children's house during this time ."

"The main challenge is food insecurity. We live in a semi-dry area that experiences very low rainfall making the availability of fresh food and clean water a challenge. Sometimes we could have money to purchase foodstuff but the food itself is unavailable so we end up not having food especially milk. We have to go to bigger centers to get milk which is a distance from home and the prices there are high, double the one we could afford in the village."

"The short rains in December brought a lot joy in my life because the dams around were filled to the brim. Before that, I used to buy two 20 litre jerricans of water every day at a cost of 100 KES which we used sparingly. This together with transport cost amounted to 200 KES. The rains therefore brought a sigh of relief."

"I used to be a livestock farmer until I lost all my stock last year during draught. The whole of last year was harsh to such an extent that we couldn't get pasture and water for our animals. At that time I had a stock of 6 goats , they all perished one after another until I was left with none. I would like to go back to that; livestock farming when I get this money. I'll start first by purchasing goats at every round of transfer and I'm positive I'll get good stock to work with. This is normally a way of having some form of wealth that you can sold and get money when need be."

"I was bathing my baby when I heard my phone ringing. My husband picked it up and read a message from Givedirectly containing a huge sum of money sent to me. I left my baby in the tub and started dancing in my front yard. I was very happy because some of my friends told me that they did not receive in their town, but knowing that I was lucky to have my money sent to me brought me much happiness. My husband joined me and we danced. I even forgot that I had my baby in the tub of water. I am very grateful to Givedirectly for giving me an opportunity to change my life."

"I had other plans before I received my transfer. I had plans to send my kids to school. By the grace of God since Give Directly came I'm able to send my kids to school, I'm also doing a small business, I also bought water pump for my agriculture farm."

"When I received my transfer I was very much happy that day, I was happy because I haven't seen people giving money for free with out paying back. When I received my first and second transfer, I thought on accomplishing my plans which is to build another house in my village, because the house I was living in has leakage all over the ruff. I never had money to build new house , that's why I my children and l always getting sick because of the water that fall on us every rainy season. But with the support from givedirectly I'm now building my dream house in my village, with the support from givedirectly my life has changed for the better, now with this third transfer, my new goals is to extend the rooms in my new house I'm building. many thanks to Givedirectly for their support."

"It was around 11 AM when I was in my garden watering my vegetables when I saw the message notifications. I was so curious and without wasting time I had to check who could have sent the message during that time. I was overexcited after realizing that I had finally received my cash transfers. I remember leaving the task I was handling and going back home. I shared the news with my family members and from the look on their faces, they were all happy. We knew that we would accomplish all our heart's desires through financial support."

"Due to the drought we are experiencing in our area, water is a big challenge as we only depend on water pans which have are now drying up. The water in those sources are contaminated and not safe for human consumption. We normally walk for about 5 kilometres to the water sources. Lack of food is also another challenge which I am facing because I only depend on the casual job at the quarry which I only get peanuts which is always not enough to cater for my family basic needs such as food and school fees."

"I think of this money and I think of joining a sacco where I can easily get a loan and open a shop. In my mind I know with 80000 KES I can commence operations and improve my living standards. I once had a shop for two years but went bankrupt because my child got sick and I spent all I had on hospital bills and medication. Life has not been easy since then and I have had to look for casual jobs like construction and fetching water just to pay my bills."