"It was 8 am and I had gone to the river to fetch water for the cow to drink when suddenly I heard my phone ringing hence notifying me of a new message. I stopped to check what it could all be about. I was surprised when I found out that it was an SMS saying that I had received KES 55000 in my mobile money account that GiveDirectly had earlier promised us. I was so happy on seeing this. I hurriedly finished what I was doing and I went back home. I shared the good news with my wife when I got home and she was so happy too on hearing about it. We thanked God because we now knew that we were going to be able to fulfill the plans that we had made."

"We spent KES 20000 of our recent transfer on paying off debt. We had borrowed the money from someone so that we could use it in meeting some of our needs. My husband who had casually been employed as a driver was no longer going to work and hence we were not able to meet some of our needs since we didn't have the money. We then took KES 9600 which we spent on buying two bags of maize for our consumption. We usually do not plant maize on our farm and hence we usually incur the cost of buying some. We have instead planted animal feeds which we usually use in feeding our cows. The milk that we get from them, we usually sell some and use the money to buy food, that is, maize, buy school uniforms for our three children and pay school fees for them. With the remaining transfer amount, we spent it on buying clothes for ourselves and the children and I bought some household utensils with it. We are thus grateful to GiveDirectly for their support."

"Even though the dairy cow I bought is not lactating at the moment, I am glad that I made to make this dream come to pass. Having additional livestock on my field is the biggest difference in my daily life, in that, I am now hopeful that I will be enjoying enough milk in the next few months when it calves down."

"Right after collecting the first transfer from the shopping center, my husband came home with a sack of maize worth KES 6000. We had been buying maize in small portions for so long that we realized that it had been more expensive buying for my family of four compared to obtaining it in bulk. I also proceeded to obtain a three-months in-calf dairy cow at KES 35000 from a neighbor who was selling it out with the hope of bringing the daily expenses on milk to a stop. In addition, I purchased new pairs of clothes for my family members worth KES 6500 and saved the remaining amount with the plan to add it to the small business that my husband had been running. I am grateful to GiveDirectly and I am looking forward to another great transformation once I receive the second transfer."

"It means my ability to move to my own home is stronger. I have been building houses using my husband's salary as he works as a teacher. It has not been enough because he is the only one with an income in my household. I will soon move out of my father in law's compound after spending about KES 10,000 to complete the new home. I will definitely need milk for household consumption as well as selling it for income. I will therefore buy a cow at about KES 30,000. Finally, my husband will then use the rest in attaining a certain certicate that has ben made mandatory for all teachers after introduction of a new school curriculum."

"Receiving this money means that I will invest more in farming, both poultry and diary keeping. I will spend about KES 40,000 on the chicken coop construction and buy about 20 chickens. From this, I will have a constant income of roughly KES 500 each day. I will be saving this .oney in order to be able to pay school fees for my grandchildren. I will then pay school fees for my children and buy a dairy cow with the remaining amount."

"The biggest difference in my daily life since I started receiving the transfers is the purchase of a heifer. I had desired to own a cow since I got married about six years ago but couldn't afford it. But now I am grateful because GiveDirectly has made possible. Secondly, through the transfers, I have adequate food which can sustain me for the next three months. Before GiveDirectly, I used to spend KES 500 per week on food and household items but this has now reduced to KES 140 per week."

"Receiving this money will bring a big change in my life. I used to do poultry keeping and it was a sustainable source of livelihood for me. I used to sell every Saturday of the week and I was getting KES 900. Life was good then. Fate would strike sometime last year when there was an outbreak of newcastle disease that wiped my entire chicken of about 50. I was devasted and it took me a long time to accept the situation, from then my economic situation has been worse. I have desired to go back to the chicken rearing but it has not been possible due to lack of capital. Give Directly could not have come at a better time than this, I intend to use KES 20000 to buy new chicks and raise them and use the rest of the money to buy a dairy cow for subsidies on the poultry project."

"Our cow culved in February this year and it was a relieve to us since we depend on milk so much. It was a joyful moment to us. We sell part of the milk to help us finance our family while we consume the remaining."

"I'm a widow and I have been struggling to raise my children alone. My husband died in the year 2010 and life has been difficult for me, given that I'm in a polygamous family. Give Directly money means that I will build my own house and increase the capital of my small business of vegetables vending. I'll also by a cow as a beef farming business given that we have plenty of feeding ground (near by forest) in our area. I'm very happy that I'll be getting this money."